Eleven Outcasts & A Mary Sue!
by A Load Of Authors
Summary: Meet Mary Sue, the most beautiful, charming, charismatic girl possible... Now if only she could get rid of those outcasts.
1. Bam, I Geed Bilk Gow…

**Eleven Outcasts & A Mary Sue!**

**- The ALoP Forum Collaboration Fic -**

* * *

**Written by:**

Black Knight Dai, The Keeper of Truth, EbonyShroud

soaringdragon43, The Silent Hero, Icepik 

Mog Anarchy, Thoughtless7, Tsukikari Kitsune

Animalluver & Raven the Ravenous

* * *

**Chapter 1:**

"**Bam, I Geed Bilk Gow…"**

* * *

Authored by:

Scene 1 - **Raven the Ravenous**

Scene 2 - **Raven the Ravenous**

Scene 3 - **Raven the Ravenous**

Scene 4 - **Raven the Ravenous **& **Tsukikari Kitsune**

Scene 5 - **soaringdragon43**

Scene 6 - **soaring dragon 43**,** Raven the Ravenous **& **Tsukikari Kitsune**

Scene 7 - **Mog Anarchy**

* * *

Somewhere, in the vast world of Pokémon, on a cruise ship bound for Johto; there was a wonderful wedding being held. It was between the Johto League chairman's daughter and some well-known-but-not-really-famous Trainer of Johto. But if you thought that this story was going to be about this wonderful soon-to-be happy couple... think again.

"Aah, what's going on here?"

A young man wearing a brown jacket and hat walked poked his head into an important room on the cruise ship. This man's name is Raven Crimgray.

"Or you can call me Ray, Rave, or the infamous Crazy."

Yes, we know now, so shut up, I'm telling the story!

"Okay, fine, sheesh. Ooh, what have we here?"

Raven had discovered a mountain of chocolate cake desserts, otherwise known as brownies; his most cherished and beloved dessert. So, taking a careful peek to ensure he was not caught, he carefully took one piece and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing and savouring the wondrous chocolate dessert.

"Bam, I geed bilk gow," he said, forgetting he was still eating the brownie. His brown eyes began to scour around the vast room, ignoring the wonderful wedding as the pastor neared the wonderful part of the wedding.

"Now, do you, Martin Knots, take Randa Tess as your lawfully wedded wife, through sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

Raven did not hear Martin's answer; it's not like he cared about the wedding. The bride was okay, not much to look at with her dressed in that typical ever-flowing white wedding gown. She had a cute face, nice cheeks, nicely shaped forehead, cute smile. But other than the blue eyes, she was NOT a brunette.

_"Damn, another blonde,"_ he thought to himself.

Oh well, even if the bride was a brown-head, it's not like he'd want her anyways. Not with that idiot Knots there. Raven knew about his reputation as the well-known Pokémon Trainer who just stayed out of crisis, unlike all the brave Pokémon Trainers who'd risk their lives to save people and Pokémon in burning buildings, sinking ships, or exploding airships. Okay, not really the latter.

Raven then spotted a black, leather wallet on the floor next to him. Curious, he picked it up and decided that someone here had forgotten to pick it up when they dropped it. So being the kind yet idiot person he was, he yelled out: "HEY! WHO DROPPED THEIR WALLET!?"

The bride was about to say her part. "I d-whaaaaaaa!?" She fell on her bottom from the loudness of his voice as the groom turned to face Raven, along with the entire guests as Raven found himself surrounded by a circle. The bride looked over at where her precious mountain of brownies were and found only three left over.

"YOU ATE ALL MY BROWNIES!"

A well dignified man in a black suit and brown tie stepped up to Raven, fixing his monocle. "Who are you sir, and why did you eat my daughter's entire stash of chocolate desserts?"

Raven, forgetting the situation he was in, chuckled. "Oh, I didn't know that mountain of chocolatey goodness belonged to the blonde over there?" - As another voice filled the room.

"That's my antique black leather wallet made by the finest wallet-makers in Hoenn. You had it, you thief?" he shouted, thus returning attention back to Raven, who was smiling nervously at the confusion that was happening.

"Now, now, I just found it and wanted to give it back to you Mister," as he opened the man's palm up and placed the antique wallet into his palm. The wallet's owner looked down at it, then at Raven, then at it, then at the crowd around him, then back at Raven. "I'm glad you have your wallet back sir?" he smiled.

The man just looked deep into his soul before saying: "Thief. THIEF! You're here to cause trouble at my nephew's wedding aren't you!?"

Raven was taken aback by his comment. "W-what? N-no, no sir, that's not-"

"Daddy, he ate all my brownies," the bride muttered through tears as the crowd turned their attention back to Raven, as the bride's father went to console her. He was then joined by his soon-to-be son-in-law who watched as the father stood up and pointed at Raven.

"Get that man!"

One by one, the crowd began to surround Raven, who tried to calm them down. "W-wait, really, I-I didn't mean to interrupt your wedding. If you want me to leave then I shall gladly leave."

With that said, he turned his back to the crowd and began to walk away before hearing the bride shout, "Don't let that horrid man get away, he ate my brownies! Now I won't be happy after what happened with my dessert after the wedding!"

Her father, the chairman, once again pointed at Raven. "Everyone, apprehend that uncouth man!"

With that said, the entire room turned against him as Raven rushed to the exit of the room, which was guarded by two big men.

"Aww man, I don't have time to deal with this!"

While running, he quickly drew out two Pokéballs and tossed them into the air. "Go, Krow and Lumen!"

The Murkrow and Luxio appeared, the former already having perched on his shoulder and the latter hiding behind his leg. Raven then pointed at the two big men blocking the exit. The Murkrow then Pecked him, crowing at him for trying to pit them up against two big men. Raven grumbled while rubbing the bumps on his head as he looked down at the quivering lion-like Pokémon hugging his leg. "Lumen, can you try a Discharge on the two of them?"

The Luxio instead had tapped itself back into the Pokéball as Raven sighed. He then looked to Krow before seeing the large men lunging at him with their big arms. "Okay, we'll just squeeze through them," as he looked once again at their bulking sizes. "Uh...try?"

So with a deep breath and a lot of guts, he dashed up to the men and had Krow use Double Team to create a multitude of clones to confuse the men and crowd while using Wing Attack to knock the two men aside. A powerful strike from the wings managed to give Raven enough time to rush through the stunned men and out the room, followed by a surprise attack by his Glaceon, Glalia, who had unexpectedly popped out of her Pokéball to aid her Trainer with Blizzard, filling the entire room with a powerful snowstorm.

"No! They're getting away! Aah, I can't see!" - The chairman shouted, as everyone else struggled as Raven and his Pokémon ran out of the room and barred the entrance shut with not one, not two, but four crowbars he found lying around out in the hallway. Apparently some crewman dropped some and forgot to come back to pick them up.

Raven ran with Krow and Glalia alongside him until they reached the end of the ship. He then turned around and headed back into the ship, hoping the crowbars would hold the bloodthirsty passengers until they reached New Bark Town's port, his destination.

"Okay, that turned out REALLY bad," as he looked down at the Glaceon that was sitting very tamely, staring at her Trainer. "Thanks for the Blizzard back there, Glali-"

The Glaceon pounced on him as he laughed a bit at her antics before realizing that she was getting a bit TOO deep into the playfulness before stopping her with both hands and holding her up with a red face. "Uh..." He then held up her Pokéball.

"Return." The red light shot out and returned her back to her portable home as he looked at his Murkrow.

"Great job there with Double Team and Wing Attack. Save my butt back there, Krow," as the crow-like Pokémon perched on top of his head and pecked him gently.. "Okay, you can be the lookout for those psycho wedding people."

* * *

Whilst the two wandered around the ship searching for their cabin...which Raven forgot where it was, the people had finally managed to break down the door barred by four crowbars. The groom stepped out, his brown hair up like icicles as he shivered from the coldness of Blizzard.

"W-w-where's that g-guy s-s-s-so I c-can make h-h-him pay f-for w-w-what he d-did?!

But before he could move, he was knocked aside by none other than the bride who had her fists clenched, not to mention her long blonde hair now a horrible mess - going out in every way.

"Where's that j-jerk? I'm g-going t-to make him r-regret e-eating my b-b-brownies and r-ruining my w-wedding!"

* * *

"Aww, that's a cute Pokémon!"

The little girl nodded happily, clutching the baby Spheal in her arms. Raven smiled down at the cute Water-Ice-type Pokémon.

"Did your parents catch it for you?"

She responded with a nod. "Mmhmm, daddy caht it for me. When I'm all gwown up, I'm gonna become a Pokey-man Trainee."

Raven smiled at her before patting the baby Spheal's head. "Aren't you a cutie?"

Krow then saw that his Trainer was no longer patting it and had taken the Spheal out of the girl's arms and was hugging it...like a plush toy.

The little girl was acting frantic. "P-pwease sir, you're hurting Spheal!"

The baby Spheal began to squeal in fear of being crushed to death as Krow finally butted in and gave him a really powerful Peck to the head. Raven the dropped the Spheal, as the little girl caught it and rushed back inside her cabin to hide from the "scary man" as Raven pouted at losing the Water/Ice-type he adored so much.

The crow Pokémon Pecked his head once again, causing Raven to look up and hear loud voices... loud familiar voices.

"Oh no!"

* * *

"...And long story short, here I am, in Johto to search for my rival and former friend who stole something very precious of mine a few years back..." Raven explained to a girl with shoulder-length dishwater blonde hair, who was crouched before him as they talked in the woods. She wore dark baggy blue jeans and a plain black V-neck t-shirt, with a black with red skull and crossbones insignias bandanna rolled into a makeshift headband and a sliver heart necklace.

"Uhh... yeah." The girl said, sweeping her side bangs out of her eyes. "Do I know you?" She deadpanned, a very confused look on her face.

"Oh! Uh, yeah. I guess I got carried away. Sorry about that..." He apologized, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "The name's Raven. Raven Crimgray." He held out his hand.

"Ooh, ok. My name's Alessandra Grahamn. Nice to meet'cha." She smiled, and took his hand as he helped her up.

"Sooo... Where are we, exactly?" She asked, glancing around. "I'm hopelessly lost." Her face flushed in embarrassment.

"Oh! We're just outside New Bark Town. I figured it was safer out here in the woods than in town, with all those people searching for me and such."

Alessandra's eyes got wide in excitement. "Really!? Wow, I'm actually almost there! Take that, bad luck! Woo-hoo!" She cheered, and started looking around more eagerly. "So, are we going into town soon or what?"

"Huh, no, I'm not. I'm hiding out here for a while until this blows over."

"Waaah? But... but... I've been searching for a town for _AAAGGGES! _You know where it is, and I know I'm going to just get lost again!" She pleaded, her expression turning from excited to a sad, beaten puppy-dog look.

"Sorry." Raven apologised again, looking sad as well, and sat down on a tree stump, intent on waiting for a while. Alessandra continued standing next to him, going over in her head on what to do. Suddenly, she plopped down next to him, deciding it was best to wait with him rather than get lost again. Plus, he had found her in the first place, so he at least deserved to help her out his own way.

The minutes inched by agonizingly. Deciding to make conversation, Alessandra asked: "Hey, Raven, you're a Pokémon Trainer, right?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah." He responded, letting out a large yawn.

"Really? Awesome! What Pokémon do you have?" she asked again, getting excited again.

"Let's see... There's Krow, my Murkrow," he started, counting on his fingers.

After a lengthy pause, he continued: "...You know what, it'd be easier to let them out and introduce you all." He reached into his pocket and took out six Pokéballs, which he tossed lightly in front of him.

"Alessandra, meet Krow," he began, pointing to a Murkrow as it ruffled its feathers.

"Troy," pointing to his Torterra who laid down to go to sleep, "Glalia," gesturing to his Glaceon, who purred and wheeled around his legs, rubbing against them, "and Lumen, Gibs, and finally, Seare." He finished as he pointed to his Luxio, Garchomp, and Charizard, respectfully.

Lumen hid out of Alessandra's reach behind his trainer, while Gibs and Charizard just stayed where they were, observing Alessandra intently. The Garchomp was munching on an orange that Raven gave to keep him from getting wild.

"Ooh, you have such cool Pokémon." Alessandra cooed as she walked up to Seare, giving it an affectionate rub on its nose.

"Wanna see mine?" she said, taking out four of her own Pokéballs.

"Sure, I'd love to."

"Ok guys, come on out!" She cheered, throwing the balls high in the air above her. They popped open, and the red light shot down and collected into her Pokémon.

"Alright! Raven, let me introduce you to Gallant," she gestured to a Growlithe, who barked warmly.

"Darby," - a Magmar who was staring timidly at the ground and inching further behind Alessandra.

"Angora," - an Umbreon who eagerly pranced up to Krow, mewing as a greeting.

"And Blithe," - a Combusken, who had sat cross-legged next to her. The Pokémon congregated between them, greeting and playing.

"So, you like Fire-types, huh?" Raven commented as Alessandra returned to his side, stepping lightly around their Pokémon.

"Yes! I love them! The only Pokémon that I have that isn't a Fire type is Angora, because I just couldn't pass her up as an Eevee. I originally wanted her to evolve into a Flareon, but during a battle a while back she evolved into an Umbreon. But I love her nonetheless." She talked eagerly, tapping her foot against the ground.

Time passed as they sat waiting, chatting idly while watching their Pokémon play together.

"Hey, wanna battle?" Alessandra suggested, turning to Raven with eyes of fire.

"Uh, I don't know if that's a good idea, the battle might draw attention, and I'm trying to-" Raven stopped mid-sentence as he was cut off by a piercing scream that sounded from behind them, deeper within the woods. All the Pokémon looked up, ears perked in response.

"What was that?" Raven asked, standing up and facing the direction it came from.

"It sounded like someone screaming..." Alessandra said quietly, listening for another. "Come on, let's go! It sounds like someone's in trouble!" - She said hurriedly, tugging on Raven's sleeve.

"What? No way! It could be something dangerous! I've already gotten in enough trouble today, there's no way I'm-"

"What are you talking about? Of course we've got to go help!" Alessandra urged, pulling Raven by the wrist with all her strength in the direction of the shout. He fought to keep his balance, but stayed put.

"Urrgh... Quit... being... a… SISSY!" Alessandra continued pulling, taking steps back in an attempt to get him moving.

"Ouch, OUCH! Quit that! Ok, ok! We'll go see what's going on!" He gave in, rubbing his wrist when she let go.

"OK, Darby, Blithe, return! Angora and Gallant, come with me!" Alessandra took out the two Pokéballs, and after Raven had returned his own Pokémon to their own Pokéballs; they hurried off, deeper into the woods.

* * *

You know, all Alena had ever wanted was to live a normal life. Then she became a trainer.

_"Do you like waffles?"_

_"Yeah Whishcast like waffle!"_

_"Do you like pancakes?"_

_"Yeah, Whishcast like pancake!"_

_"Do you-"_

"Electrinz, Whishcast, shhh! Remember, we're here to look for a Houndour for Professor Birch, and if you two make so much noise, you'll scare them away!" Alena grabbed the baby Whiscash off the ground, as her insane Pikachu looked up at her, annoyed.

Alena had been travelling for four years now, but she was not one for catching Pokémon. She only travelled with Twig, her starter, a Sceptile; Whishcast, her contest Pokémon; Electrinz, her Pikachu; Nova, a Staraptor; and Ali, a Pokémon that Alena had traded temporarily for, so her friend Alletto could use Sander, Alena's Flygon, in his search of some ancient ruins he had found.

All of them were freaking crazy.

First, there was Twig. Twig was calm all the time, the peacekeeper. He loved nature, and being a Sceptile, he swore that the trees could talk to him. He named all the trees individually: Bob, Fred, Queen Mary Elizabeth the III, etc. He secretly had a crush on a certain Champion's Aggron, although he would never admit it to anyone.

Next, Whishcast. Whishcast was the baby of the group, and was very concerned with her looks. She always wears a huge pink bow on her head, with the ribbon constantly getting in her face. She loved the Cute Contest, and also did okay in the Beauty and Tough contests. Her name came from the way she said it - she never could say "Whiscash" in her baby voice.

Electrinz. The crazy Pikachu who was arguably the heart of Alena's team. He was far stronger than any other Pikachu due to the Light Ball amulet that hung around his neck. He was the Pokémon that was closest to Alena, even going as far as having a crush on her - although, he'd never tell anyone, of course. He was obsessed with cheese, which apparently tasted absolutely amazing to a Pikachu.

Nova, Alena's youngest Pokémon. She desperately wanted to become a rock star, although there weren't that many Staraptor singers in the world. She has dyed some of her feathers pink, causing her appearance to go from intimidating to merely eccentric. Nova had been separated from her flock when she was only a Starly, eventually causing her to become extremely independent.

Finally, Ali. Ali was extremely quiet, almost never speaking. In fact, Alena could hardly even describe the Aggron, simply because she had only seen her speak three times, and only in two or three-words phrases.

Now, as for Alena herself, she was just about as normal as anyone with five weird Pokémon and a magic bracelet could ever hope to be.

She had been born in- What? The bracelet? Well, Twig had bought it for her at an art fair, and it apparently had almost infinite power - at a cost. It would drain the holder of their energy whenever they used its power, until they fell over in exhaustion.

Anyway, Alena had been born in Hoenn, the wildest region, and had consequently become very tough, very fast. She had learned to train her Pokémon as much as possible, not stopping until they could topple the nearby competition.

If only that had been enough today.

"Hello?" A voice said, chorusing like the voices of a thousand singing angels. Alena, Electrinz, and Whishcast turned around, the first looking at the new arrival with a confused face, the second looking dreamily at her for a second before shaking his head, and the latter screaming, _"Pwetty person! Pwetty pwetty!"_

"Thank you, little one," the girl said, gracefully gliding into the clearing where Alena stood. She had the most wonderful hair - sleek and jet black, with pink and baby blue streaks running through it beautifully. The streaks were, of course, all-natural. Her hair went down to he feet, curving wonderfully around her ankles. She had beautiful, tanned skin without a blemish in sight. Her orbs were blue, green, purple, black, and pink, all blending together to create beautiful pools of emotion. Her nails were sharpened to pointed tips, and were lavender in colour with lacy white flowers stencilled on.

Now, her make-up. She wore a light pink blush that made her cheekbones stand out beautifully. Her eyes were surrounded with purple mascara, with blue eye shadow that matched wonderfully. Her lips were plump and a juicy red.

The girl wore a ruffled hot-pink miniskirt, with a black belt around her waist (she was an expert in karate too). A light pink tank top showed off her HUGE boobs, with "Beauty Queen!" written on it in glittery writing. She wore a hot pink jacket over that, and a pair of black knee-length stockings on her sexy legs. A pair of hot-pink boots without a speck of dust on them completed the look.

She wore a magical amulet around her neck - it pulsated in all the colours of the rainbow, changing with her heartbeat. She had a pair of huge earrings, at least four inches long, that glimmered in the sunlight and changed colours as they moved.

Finally, she had seventeen rings, one on each of her fingers, each holding the power of a Pokémon type.

Alena stared. _'Damn,' _she thought, _'Compared to THAT, my bracelet is like...nothing. Honestly, what does this girl think when she's putting all this shit on anyway?' _

"My name is Mary Sue," the girl stated in her chorus-of-angels voice. "I am in Johto to win the Championship. I have already won the Sinnoh and Kanto Leagues, and I am looking forward to beating this one. I have won the Master Rank contests in Cool, Cute, Beauty, Smartness, and Toughness hundreds of times. I was born with the ability to speak to Pokémon, and I can also speak Japanese, Spanish, French-"

"Yeah, that's nice. I'll just be going now." Alena grabbed Electrinz, recalled Whishcast, and began to walk away.

"You can't interrupt ME!" Mary Sue whined. Her whiny voice was like the sound of a thousand birds signing. "I still haven't shown you my Pokémon! Go Neko, Shimmer, Peach, and Pearl!"

The Pokémon that appeared were something out of a horror film.

Neko was a Delcatty with light pink fur where it would normally be tan, and hot pink where it would normally be purple. She wore an expensive amulet around her neck, worth thousands of Pokédollars.

Shimmer was a fucking MEW, shiny blue with the normal pink still apparent as bands around her paws and tail.

Peach was a Pikachu with cotton-candy pink fur, hot pink fur on the tips of her ears and the stripes on her back, and purple circles on her cheeks. She had tons of golden earrings in her ears and tail, and giant blue eyes.

Finally, Pearl was a baby-blue Ninetails, with dark blue fur on the tips of each one of her tails. She wore another amulet around her neck, silver with a Sapphire in the centre.

"Pearl's amulet is a magical present from Kyogre, goddess of the sea. It allows her to use water attacks, which should easily take out the Champion Alora's stupid Quilava." Mary Sue sang.

All of Mary Sue's Pokémon laughed.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH! ALORA IS MY FRIEND!" Alena tackled the girl, pulling on her perfect raven-coloured hair.

"Oh dear!" Mary Sue cried. "My dearest Pokémon, all of you return, except Neko! - Neko use Shimmer Fur!"

"What the fuck?!" Alena yelled.

The Delcatty began to glow with a golden light. Alena rolled out of the way, releasing Ali as she came to a stop. "Iron Defence!"

The Shimmer Fur attack was reflected by the glow of Ali's armour, blinding Sue for a moment as Alena struggled around blindly as well. When the light faded, Alena rubbed her eyes - and gasped in horror.

Neko was running away, carrying Ali as though the several ton Pokémon was a rag doll. Mary Sue laughed as she released Shimmer, ordering the Mew to use Ice Beam. The icy blast hit Trinz at the speed of light, sending him flying - right into Mary's hands!

"A horrible trainer like you shouldn't have these wonderful Pokémon! I'll make them much better!" Mary Sue screamed, laughing evilly.

"Oh no you don't, bitch!" Alena gathered up as much energy as she could muster, holding it in her hand before throwing it at Mary Sue.

"THUNDERBOLT!" She yelled, blasting the offending bitch.

The evil girl seemed almost unfazed, but the blast seemed to fill Electrinz with energy, and he blinked a few times before screaming: "ALENA!" - and jumping out of Sue's arms and racing to Alena.

Sue gave a yell that sounded like the tinkling of a thousand bells before seeming to give up and disappearing using her magical powers.

Alena collapsed to the ground in a dead faint as the sound of footsteps approached.

Electrinz motioned to the two people coming over to hurry up as he took out some Sitrus berries from his Trainer's pack, and tried to revive Alena so she would eat them. He finally blasted her with a Thundershock, much to the horror of the other humans, and stuffed the berries into her mouth.

* * *

Five minutes later, Alena was in a sitting position and talking to the newcomers.

"So you're sure you've never seen her before?" she asked.

"Nope, never," the boy said. "Say, is that a - a chocolate bar in your backpack?!" - He asked with slight excitement. "I haven't had any in a while."

Alena glared at him. "That's for Girl Emergencies. ONLY." She glared at him and pulled the bar out, taking a bite.

"What kind of Ninetails was that?" - The other girl muttered. "The one she had out before she battled you? It looked so weird!"

"I know," Alena said, "My friend Alletto has one, and it looked nothing like that one. That one was just... unnatural!"

"Well, I'm Alessandra, and I'm hoping to become a great trainer using only fire types. I can't believe how powerful that Ninetails was! I mean really, that thing is a monster!" The girl seemed very aggravated.

Alena turned to the boy again. "Pleased to meet'cha, I'm Raven!" He said, "You know, you have cute hair. If you were a bit old-"

"Nice to meet you!" Alena cut him off. "I'm Alena, and while I appreciate the help, I have to get going."

"Wait!" Alessandra called, "Did you see anyone in trouble around here? We heard a scream."

Alena looked into the distance. She sniffed and said, "Yeah, I didn't think much of it though, probably some new trainer getting chased by a Pidgey or being eaten by Houndour." The other two seemed to find the concept of getting eaten by Houndour quite upsetting, but Alena didn't seem worried at all.

"Nice to meet you, bye!" She yelled, jumping up and rushing into the distance, apparently gathering enough energy to do so in the short amount of time that she had been sitting down. Electrinz looked at Raven and Alessandra, 'Pikaa'-ing his apology before rushing after his Trainer.

"Why do I feel like one of the characters of the day?" Alessandra muttered as Raven leaned down and picked something up.

"Yummeh!" Raven said, happily stuffing his face with the rest of the chocolate bar Alena had left behind. He hadn't eaten since the great party on the cruise ship which happened before the event that led him to being chased around the ship.

* * *

"..._The bodies prepared for slaughter_..."

The pale, trembling right hand of the tormented artist edged along the rough cartridge paper, stroking the final touches of gory adjustments to this once socially-acceptable piece of artwork.

"_Grinding of your fingers and toes feeding on your meat_..."

The voice that accompanied the brutal sketching was one of a high-pitched tone, attempting to growl a death metal chorus. The voice's owner was failing epically, however - she sounded like a Skitty with its tail caught in a bear-trap.

"...I'd kill for some lemonade." The artist sighed, jabbing at her picture furiously with her blotchy red ink, splattering the figure she'd drawn with an onslaught of gory stigmata.

She had started by drawing a girl, a look of panic smeared across her face with several strokes of her chewed pencil. She'd added a mop of brown hair upon the figure's skull, and sketched in her body shape - making her hold a Pokéball in each hand.

Displeased with the image, the artist shook her head, before proceeding to draw in some axes and meat cleavers embedded in the girl's chest, adding in fountains of gushing, coagulating blood, which poured out over the page, and splattered the two ravenous Houndoom, which she'd inked either side.

"Much better." She giggled, adding a flurry of incoming knives and meat-hooks to attack her character.

She finished off her gory piece of work with a caption: "_Disposal of the dead, the corpse chopped to bits, licking up the drivel._"

* * *


	2. I Like That Stump You're Sitting On

* * *

**Chapter 2:**

**"I Like That Stump You're Sitting On."**

* * *

Authored by:

Scene 1 - **Raven the Ravenous **& **Tsukikari Kitsune**

Scene 2 - **Raven the Ravenous** & **Thoughtless7**

Scene 3 - **Raven the Ravenous**, **Thoughtless7** & **Mog Anarchy**

Scene 4 - **Raven the Ravenous**, **Thoughtless7** & **soaringdragon43**

Scene 5 - **Raven the Ravenous** & **soaringdragon43**

Scene 6 - **Thoughtless7** & **Tsukikari Kitsune **

* * *

"My word, what was up with that Trainer? She stole that poor girl's Pokémon! What kind of stingy, jealous, cold-hearted person is she to do something like that? That's just so... Argh, MEAN!" Alessandra ranted as they began the trek back towards town.

"And what's with that Ninetales of hers? It was all weird-looking, and just exuded this strange aura..." She tapered off, lost in thought.

Licking off the remnants of the chocolate bar on his fingertips, Raven had not heard a single word Alessandra said. Instead, he looked around and pointed to the left. "Is Cherrygrove City that way?"

Alessandra glanced at him, bemused. "Now, do you really think I would know something like that?" She said, with a grin.

"Hmm, I think I have a map of Johto somewhere... in here," Raven said, beginning to rummage through his pack that he had somehow forgotten he was carrying on his back.

"Aah, here it is! Lessee, the map says..." Raven mused, as he folded it back and put it back into his pack.

"OK, it's west. Onward towards the west!" - He cried out, raising a fist up in the air.

Krow, being the only Pokémon of his that was out, could only slap his own face with his wings. His Trainer could be such an idiot sometimes...

"Yes! Off we go!" Alessandra cheered, practically skipping. Krow looked at her strangely, but Gallant just howled in joy. "Wait... Which way is west?" She asked, stopping mid-step.

"Uh... I don't know?" Raven replied sheepishly. "I don't have a compass."

"What are you doing with a map and no compass?" Alessandra giggled.

"That's a funny story, actually. This one time-"

"You know what? I think I have one." Alessandra said, cutting him off while she rummaged through her bag. "Jeebus, where is that thing?" She said to herself, growing frustrated.

"Ah, screw it." She tipped her bag over, dumping the mess onto the forest floor. It was a massive pile, mostly consisting of random containers of food and items for her Pokémon. Raven looked on in surprise and amusement as she bent over, spreading the mess around.

"Finally, here it is!" She said cheerfully, holding the small disc up as if it was a first place trophy. "Let's see... West... West..." She muttered, turning around in a circle.

"Ah, west is this way!" She stopped and pointed off to their right. "Good thing we checked the compass, huh? We were going in the wrong direction!" She said happily as she began stuffing her things back into her bag.

"Uh, yeah..." Raven said. _"We were?"_ - He thought to himself.

They set off deeper into the forest.

Walking through the forest wasn't what Raven had in mind, but with what happened a while ago, he wasn't in the mood to be used for target practice out in the open; and besides that, he felt right at home walking through a forest, which he used to taking strolls through in back in Sinnoh.

Raising his arms up to stretch while walking, Raven smiled. "Aah, sure feels great to walk through a forest again. No people, no cars, and best of all, no annoying Trainers that run up to you after every five minutes asking for a battle…"

As he caught the words he said: "Crap, shouldn't have said that!"

He turned to Alessandra. "Hey uh, if you see a Trainer, avoid letting them see you okay?" He turned back to facing forward whilst grumbling to himself, "Because I don't wanna deal with annoying, newbie Trainers that seek battles 24-7..."

"Hmm? Aw, what's the fun in that? Don't you want to get stronger as a Trainer? You can't get stronger if you don't battle!" Alessandra pouted. "I understand that it can be annoying sometimes, especially when there's quite a few in a row, but you can't get any stronger with a mentality like that." She said, pointing to her head for emphasis.

"Aww but really, what if your Pokémon are all about to faint and then just when you think you're in the clear upon seeing a Pokémon Centre nearby, some Trainer catches your eye and runs after you? And because of the rule of battling is that if two Trainer's eyes meet, they have to battle? Luckily that one time, Gibs went wild - he was a Gabite at the time- and threatened to Crunch the guy's Skuntank since he wasn't feeling well," Raven said, continuing on about his story.

"Gibs was paralysed recently by a Trainer's Roselia's Stun Spore and couldn't eat his oranges so..." - He continued on, unable to stop his story and forgetting the reason he was trying to explain.

"Oranges?" Alessandra questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Whatever... Never mind." She dismissed, waving her hand.

"Well, that's why you train and get stronger, so things like that don't happen! Find a place where you know the trainers and wild Pokémon are a low enough level to beat easily, but strong enough so it's at least a bit of a challenge. It also helps to bring lots of potions and full heals with you. I always have some extra on me, just in case. That way I don't get stranded with my Pokémon in bad shape that often." She said gleefully, kicking a rock and watching it skip across the dirt.

Raven turned to the girl. "Well, that's the problem. All of my Pokémon have their own interests. Troy is lazy and when he does battle... He kinda gets out of hand... Whilst still acting like a clown. Like when he used Wood Hammer on this Juggler's Electrode back in Kanto, he deliberately hit me with the attack too while he pretended to 'lose' balance. Then there's Glalia. Uh no wait, she's not that bad... If she would stop embarrassing me in front of people during battles..."

He started to count the rest off on his fingers. "Lumen is... Well, he's a coward. He only evolved into a Luxio when some crazy woman that hated Electric Pokémon tried to catch him just to torture him. He fought off her Pokémon in just that ONE time and evolved. So, that leaves Krow, Gibs, and Seare. Krow is okay with battles; he's been with me the longest. Gibs is... Well, let's just say you'll wish you hadn't met him and Seare... He's... cocky. Yeah, he likes to taunt his opponents after he beats them. So really, only three out of three really like battling. And about the potions and full heal... I'm out of them - not to mention I'm broke." - He finished, showing her how empty his wallet was.

"Well, I usually do battles for money, where we both bet a certain amount, and the winner gets the money. That's how I earn mine, along with doing odd jobs in towns whenever I can. And really, no Trainer has a perfect team of Pokémon. Even my own have their share of problems. For example, Darby, my Magmar. He hates to battle, and is so shy and timid that he doesn't even like to be out of his Pokéball. In fact, it's so bad that quite a few times when I called him out, he just sat there doing nothing while my opponent whaled on him. And then there's Angora, who's on the other side of the spectrum... she's been known to continue attacking even after the opponent has been beaten." She sighed, glancing at Angora who was busying herself with a pebble, knocking it ahead of them and chasing after it.

"And then there's Blithe, who doesn't battle unless he deems the Pokémon strong enough for him. Luckily I have Gallant, my knight in shining armour." She giggled, and gave Gallant an affectionate rub on the head. "But if you really want to avoid a battle, that's ok with me, I guess. I'm just happy you're helping me get to town."

The man rubbed the back of his head. "Ehehe, yeah. I'm just glad I won't have to travel alone. Anyways, you really train Fire Pokémon? I liked the idea of being a Fire-types only Trainer but because Sinnoh, which is where I'm from, doesn't have any except for Ponyta and Rapidash along with Chimchar for the beginning Trainers... I had to give that up. Although…" - He continued, petting Krow on his shoulder.

"I've gotten over that. As for Krow here, I met him one night in Eterna Forest. Gotta admit, he saved me from a stray Gastly."

Raven then noticed that they had been walking for a long time whilst they had chatted. "I wonder when we're going to reach Cherrygrove City? I'm hungry."

"Eh? You just ate!" She said incredulously.

"I know but I'm hungr- hey what's that!?" He yelled, pointing at the red fox-like creature with six tails.

"Hey, isn't that..." His voice trailed off, as he pulled out a card that had a picture of a creature that looked close to what he saw. "Oh wow, it's a-"

"It's a Vulpix!" Alessandra shouted, her eyes growing wide. "I know! I'm gonna catch that Vulpix and train it to become a much better Ninetales than that mean girl's! I'll show her that stealing Pokémon and then somehow... _Altering_ them... IS NOT THE RIGHT _OR_ BEST WAY TO DO IT!"

She ran ahead, full speed towards the Vulpix, who jumped up in surprise and ran in the opposite direction.

"Oh no you don't!" Alessandra called after, jumping over a bush and giving chase.

Raven watched the girl rushing straight after the Pokémon, following it over a bush and deeper into the forest. He immediately began chasing after her, hoping she didn't get too far ahead or else she'd get lost. "Hey, wait up! Don't go leaving me here all alone!"

He kept running and running, all whilst trying to see her figure which was quickly becoming smaller in the distance, that is, until he tripped over a tree root and fell flat on his face.

"...Ow." He groaned. He got up slowly and tried to look for the girl, who had long since disappeared after the Vulpix.

Raven made a face. "Aww man, I lost her _and _the Vulpix. Not only that, where the heck am I? Which direction I was running?"

Not knowing which way was north, east, west, or south without a compass, Raven continued on in a different direction, continuing his search for Alessandra in the forest...

* * *

Well... This was rather unpleasant.

Well, no; not that it was all that terrible. Yes, Taylor decided, she had been in far worse situations, and this was child's play. The optimistic girl smiled. It was even kind of nice, all things considered. Sure, she was dangling precariously above churning rapids, hanging onto a branch only by her backpack, and any sudden movement would have her careening to her death... But she had a view, at least. She twiddled her brown, red-streaked hair in two fingers.

_'Ah! Look at the Magikarp!' - _She thought, her grin wider.

A school of Magikarp jumped out of the water, making brilliant splashes of water droplets that reflected the sun. She had seen Staryu, Goldeen, even a Dratini... She counted herself lucky, on that respect.

Taylor glanced at her watch. About an hour since she'd fallen from the cliff and onto the branch. _'That's a sturdy branch!' _She thought, grinning. She was only a few feet away from the top of the cliff, too. The walls were too smooth to climb up, though... Ah, well...

"Hm?" Taylor glanced upward, shielding her green eyes from the sun with her hands. She couldn't see anything, but she definitely heard footsteps. "HELLOOOO? Anyone there?"

The footsteps stopped for a moment, then quickened, and a form appeared, eclipsing the sun. "HOLY--! Uh, are you okay?!"

A pleasant breeze blew. Taylor grinned sweetly up toward her potential saviour. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He seemed to be very antsy. Taylor decided that was probably normal, but hanging out with her accident-prone Pokémon had made her take situations such as these very lightly.

"H-How long have you been there?!" He stuttered.

"Around an hour, I suppose," Taylor said.

"Jeez!! A-All right, I'll save you!"

Taylor smiled, swaying a bit in the wind. _'What a nice guy!' _She decided. She watched, bemused as he tried to persuade a Charizard he released save her.

"Go _save _her, Seare!"

At that moment, they heard a _snap! - _as the branch finally collapsed under her weight. Taylor yelped as she began plummeting down towards the water, but was quickly rescued by the fast Charizard.

"Thanks, Charizard!" Taylor sang, situating herself more comfortably on his back, rubbing the Fire-type's head affectionately. He made a grunting noise in acknowledgement.

The Charizard, who was apparently named Seare, flew up to his trainer. Taylor stumbled a bit as she got off of the Pokémon, then balanced herself. She smiled sweetly at the relieved looking male trainer as she held out a hand.

"Hello there! Thanks for saving me!"

"No problem..." he said, relief in his voice as he shook her hand."Uh, h-how did you fall down there again?"

"My wonderful luck, of course! Ah, that reminds me..." Taylor took off her backpack, digging through and pulling out three Pokéballs. "They're probably getting annoyed, 'specially Larcena..."

Taylor's three Pokémon all were released from their Pokéballs, consisting of a Hoppip, a Persian, and a Wooper. The Persian snarled immediately, kicking her trainer as she walked away. Taylor swung her arms wildly as she tried to regain her balance, ready to fall off the cliff again. Raven jumped, startled, but Taylor managed to get her balance. She laughed sheepishly. The Persian didn't pay her trainer any mind, and just started cleaning herself.

"Eh heh... Don't mind Larcena..." Taylor said, referring to the Persian. "Anyways... I'm Taylor."

Raven suddenly jumped back as her Hoppip flew in front of his face with the biggest smile on its face, auditing a hello through its name, of course. "That's Dandy, and this..." Taylor pointed to the Wooper hiding behind her leg. "This is Olotl, my sexy beast!" Taylor chirped. Olotl blushed at that.

"I'm Raven," he introduced, grinning, "And this..." The Charizard suddenly seared Raven with a flamethrower. Raven coughed away some ash. "This is Seare. Don't mind the Flamethrower, it's a habit," he said, as he gave the Pokémon a narrow look. "An annoying, bad habit."

Taylor giggled to herself, looking over Raven. He was almost as tall as her, which was a very hard feat to accomplish, considering how tall Taylor was. He had dark messy hair and brown eyes. He looked around eighteen or nineteen; in other words older then her. Taylor was only fifteen.

_'A shame. He's kind of cute!' _Taylor laughed to herself. _'But he's too old.'_

"It's lucky that I met you today. I have this habit of getting into... Situations..." Dandy plopped onto his trainer's head, still wearing that huge, ditsy smile. "Now, let me guess... You're a Trainer... On a _journey."_

"Yeah... How'd you know that?" Raven asked.

Taylor laughed. "Oh come on, Raven! This is an RPG! That's always the story!"

Raven had no idea what that meant. "Well, I do _need_ to get back to the journey. It was very nice, if not a bit, erm... Interesting, meeting you," Raven said, smiling nervously and walking away.

Taylor pouted and followed him. "W-Wait! Where are you going?"

"I'm on a quest to find my former friend and get back something precious I lost," Raven said darkly, his eyes gleaming at mentioning the main reason why he came to Johto. He perked up. "Now I'm going to Cherrygrove."

Taylor mulled a moment on this angsty revelation. _'...The yaoi fangirls are just dying to meet this friend of his, I know it. Uh, best not alarm Raven with that...'_

"How interesting!" Taylor thought aloud. "Mind if I tag along for a bit? We seem to be going in similar directions."

Normally, Raven would probably refuse and not get involved, but...

_'Well, she does have a cute face and nice hair,' _he debated. _'But once again, I'm lucky enough to get a young one...' _

Raven took a decisive stand. _'I don't have to get involved with her; we'll just travel to the next town. Like Gramps said, 'safety in numbers', right? And I don't wanna be alone at night. Scary things at night...' _

"All right then."

"Awesome!" Taylor suddenly hugged Raven from behind, an action nowadays called "glomping." He blushed, shying away from the affectionate girl, but she had already let go. She grinned blankly, tilting her head a bit.

_'I can't tell if she's a ditz or just really, really affectionate,'_ Raven thought grimly with a nervous smile as she skipped ahead.

* * *

After managing to navigate their way out of the forest and keep Taylor from falling into any more rapids, the two Trainers finally made it outside into a big plain and a hill where a huge tree stood along with a rock half the size of the tree.

There was remote tree stump and on it was seated a slightly chubby girl with long blonde hair, dark green eyes, and freckles. She wore thick-framed glasses, black denim jeans with chains hanging from the belt and a black T-shirt with a "Cannibal Corpse" logo embossed upon it. She was wearing a black jacket, covered in patches and badges, with numerous safety-pins embedded all over it - scuffed, black Converse upon her feet, and she was drawing rather violently in a sketchbook, resting in her lap.

Raven wondered what was someone doing out here in, well, somewhat the middle of nowhere since there were trees and rocks and some Pokémon in grasses here and there. So the two Trainers walked up to the girl, wanting to know if they were nearing Cherrygrove City. Raven had meant to ask the girl the question but Taylor stepped forward and did the asking.

"Why hello there! Look at you, all on your stump with your sketchbook and stuff." Taylor smiled kindly. "We were wondering if you knew where Cherrygrove City was, 'cause we have very little sense of direction. Well, I don't know about Raven, but I certainly-"

"...Go away." The girl growled, snapping her sketchbook shut, folding it across her lap - before turning to face Taylor and Raven, a scowl smeared across her face.

"...Aw, but we'd really like to be there," Taylor said, wearing her most convincing, pleading pout. "You don't know where it is? Ah, well..."

"...Do I look like a fucking map?" This uncouth teen snapped, narrowing her eyes towards the ones who had interrupted her drawing time.

"Well, not really. Maps have pictures of towns on them, of course!" Taylor smiled as if this was a perfectly logical question. "Well, I, of course, have no idea what's in your sketchbook, and I can't see if you have any tattoos of towns on your body, since I just met you. I'm Taylor, by the way. I like that stump you're sitting on." Taylor grinned.

The now-infuriated girl before them sucked a cold breath through her front teeth, before proceeding to growl something under her breath: "_I smash your fucking head in, until brains seep in..."_

"Aw, and you're a _poet! _You're just darling." Raven cocked an eyebrow at Taylor's unwavering cheerfulness. "Ah, but since you don't know where Cherrygrove City is, I guess we have to go." Taylor pouted, glancing at Raven. She leaned in toward the blonde girl. "He's on a quest, y'know," she whispered.

"...That wasn't poetry, you friggin' dolt! That was a death metal chorus. Cannibal Corpse's finest: _Hammer Smashed Face._" She paused, flicking her fringe out of her eyes. She jumped slightly, her dark green eyes now focusing properly upon Taylor. "...Wait... Don't I know you?!"

"Eh?" Taylor tilted her head to the side in confusion. "W-Well, maybe. I'm really, REALLY bad with names. It took me three months just to learn my first friend's name, y'know... So, uh, if we have, sorry if I forgot..."

Grimacing in slight disgust, the blonde girl turned away, opening her sketchbook at her previous page; taking her trusty red ink pen in her right hand, she began jabbing furiously at the girl she had been drawing earlier.

Taylor looked at Raven pleadingly, but all he did was shrug. He didn't really want to get involved if the two had a past history.

"You're mad now, aren't you? Gah, I'm sorry. I'm kind of scatter-brained. I'm really bad with names, like I said." Taylor tried to gauge any response from the blonde, but all she did was stab at her sketchbook.

"...Leave me be..." The blonde sighed, as she swapped her red ink pen for a black biro. She began carefully drawing an anvil hanging above her paper victim's head.

Taylor was silent for a moment, debating on her options. Raven was beginning to look antsy. But Taylor didn't want to leave unless this girl was cheered up, or at least Taylor had a firm grasp on whether or not she'd met her. Curiously, Taylor stood on her toes, trying to steal a glance at the sketchbook, but the girl snapped it shut.

"Oi! ...This is my_ private _artwork! ...If you must know, I'm plotting sweet revenge, so that stupid twat with the Hoppip and the Meowth will finally get what's coming to her one day..." The blonde one growled, clenching her fists in fury.

"Oh, no, that's no good." Taylor suddenly slid down on the log, sitting next to the blonde and putting an arm around her shoulder.

Raven sighed to himself. _'Yup, definitely over-affectionate.' _

The blonde looked infuriated and uncomfortable at her broken personal space.

"Revenge is really bad, y'know? You feel like crap, the whole time! And even when you get revenge, it's never as sweet as you think it'll be! So I just push bad stuff to the back of my mind. Focus on the good stuff."

The blonde ground her teeth in anger, hating the close contact to another human. "...Don't fucking touch me!" She grunted, attempting to push Taylor away. The sketchbook, now unguarded by the pale hands of this violent girl, fell open to the front page; revealing another carefully inked torture diagram.

This one consisted of the girl she had been drawing earlier, the same styled brown hair, being stretched brutally upon a Medieval torture rack. Beside her were a Hoppip and Meowth, pickled in glass jars, their eyeballs protruding from their skulls.

The blonde girl stared at Taylor, waiting for a reaction. Taylor stared blankly at the page for a good five seconds. Then, reading off the inside cover: "'Dixie Astrid Stonehall'? Your name's Dixie! Nice to meet you Dixie!" Taylor smiled, shaking her hand. Dixie's hand went limp at the shock of how dense the girl was. "Great drawing! Hey, do you have any of Judas's Cradle? Those are a bitch to draw, really. I always mess up on the pyramid!" Taylor laughed lightly.

Dixie's eyes were aflame in rage - for a start, this irritating Trainer had not only interrupted her drawing time, not only continued to bug her when she'd asked her to leave, not only hadn't realized the true meanings of her drawings, not only hadn't realized the almighty lyrics from a Cannibal Corpse track - she'd called her _Astrid._

"...Don't call me fucking ASTRID!!" Dixie screamed, leaping up from the stump, shoving Taylor forcefully in the chest.

Taylor waved her arms wildly, trying to regain her balance on the stump. Dixie may have been a good ten inches or so shorter then Taylor, but she wasn't a pushover_. 'Oh, I made a pun. I'm so witty,' _Taylor thought for a moment as she fell with a dull _thud._

"All right now, that's enough!" Raven said, finally talking. "Unless you've bribed me with brownies, I think that was a mean thing to do! She was just trying to be nice! I don't think there is a reason for you to be that mean to her?"

Dixie looked slightly guilty, shuffling her feet awkwardly - hating being scolded. "...Yeah well... She shouldn't have pissed me off... ...I don't even know her and she managed to piss me off..."

"I'm sorry," Taylor apologised, sitting up. "I know I'm a little pushy and nosy."

Dixie narrowed her eyes. "...Some say _I'm_ quick to violence, but I don't use _that _as an excuse."

Taylor opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly a light shone from her backpack. She yelped slightly as the backpack began moving until Dandy broke out, giving a cheer for breaking out of his Pokéball. He landed on Taylor's head for a moment until he saw the new arrival, Dixie.

So, being the friendly ditz he was, he flew past his trainer and into Dixie's personal bubble, singing "Hoppip!" as a hello.

"Oh, that's Dandy." Taylor grinned.

Dixie flinched, attempting to dodge the incoming pink ball of joy. "...Certainly isn't _dandy_ to me." She muttered, brushing herself down.

Dixie suddenly blinked, a switch activating in her brain. She took a double-take, glancing from Dandy, to Taylor and back again. Then her eyes suddenly hardened.

"...It's you! ...What the fuck?!"

"...Yes, it is me! Yeah." Taylor laughed uneasily, not understanding. She glanced at Raven, who was looking away, eating a spare brownie from his bag. Taylor looked back at Dixie, who seemed to have realized something.

Dixie seemed appalled, yet wore an expression of bewilderment on her face. "...You don't remember me?!"

A look of confusion took over Taylor's face. "So... We _have _met?" Taylor's face drooped to a shame-filled frown. "Sorry..."

"Don't give me the innocence act, arsehole!" Dixie clenched her teeth in fury, her right hand reaching to her spiked leather belt, which clipped on one side, were two shrunken Pokéballs. "Give this liar what for! Go, Dour!"

Dixie threw her Pokéball to the ground at Taylor's feet, and out erupted a distraught-looking Houndour.

Taylor fought back a smile. "...He's so cute!"

Taylor's demeanour suddenly changed from ditsy to calm and collected. "Okay, I don't know why you're mad at me... But I'll battle you, if that's what you want." Dandy retreated back onto Taylor's head as she pulled out a Pokéball, throwing it in the air. "Larcena, time to battle."

The Persian emerged from the ball, not abusing Taylor like she usually did; instead stretching slightly in anticipation and giving a throaty growl. The Houndour backed up a bit, intimidated.

"...Dour, use Ember!" - Dixie ordered, her left leg twitching slightly, as if she was thinking about administering the Houndour a swift kick up the backside.

The Houndour trembled, seeming uneasy on his feet. He stretched his tiny jaws apart, before spitting out a small stream of orange flames in the direction of his foe.

"Dodge it!" Taylor commanded, though the Persian needed no motivation. Larcena limberly dashed away from the tiny flames, a smug smirk on its face at the Houndour's obvious fear.

"All right, Water Pulse."

The tiny canine's eyes brimmed with fear as he watched his downfall hurtling through the air towards him. He closed his eyes tightly, chewing nervously upon his lip; knowing if he made any attempt to dodge, he wouldn't be fast enough.

Dour was hit with the full-force of the liquid onslaught, which rendered him helpless, knocking him backwards onto his face. He skidded along the ground, stopping eventually beside Dixie, his pink tongue hanging from his mouth, agonised drool dribbling down his chin.

"...Dour! You fucking weak Starly guano! What the fuck was THAT?!" Dixie snapped, holding his Pokéball above him, shaking her head in despair as she returned him.

Taylor laughed uneasily, returning to her usual self for a moment. "U-Uh, after we battle, I have some potions, so you could borrow them if you-"

"Shut the fuck up, you!" Dixie snapped, whipping out her second Pokéball. "...You better not fail this time... Go, Emily!"

From Dixie's second Pokéball popped out a cuddly Eevee; her dark eyes shimmering in delight.

"O-Okay." Taylor glanced at Larcena, holding out her Pokéball. "Return, Larcena."

The Persian growled in annoyance, wanting to battle more. _'Heh, that thing wasn't worth the exercise,' _the smug Persian thought as it was returned to its Pokéball.

"You wanna go for it, Dandy?" Taylor asked the Hoppip on her head calmly.

In response, Dandy flew down a few feet in front of Emily, a confident look on its face as it hovered in excitement.

"Emily, Quick Attack!" Dixie yelled; her tone seeming less harsh to when she'd ordered Dour.

Emily smiled gently, nodding in determination, as she tightened her muscles and began rocketing towards Dandy.

_'This Pokémon's braver, and stronger,' _Taylor noted. Despite that, Taylor grinned to herself. _'Trying to get close to Dandy is suicide, though.' _

"Sleep Powder."

Not noticing the sudden haze of purple dust that was now lingering in the air around her target, Emily increased her pace, ready to charge into the Hoppip with all of the power she possessed.

Dixie sighed, slapping her hand to her forehead as the _thud_ of her now-sleeping Pokémon reached her ears. "...Oh Emily... Open your bloody eyes..."

Dandy giggled to himself as his familiar plan came into fruition. The words he was expecting his trainer to say followed: "Swords Dance, now, Dandy."

Dandy performed the dance, feeling his power increasing as Emily snoozed away, much to Dixie's frustration.

"Damn it! Emily, wake UP!"

Emily's eyes cracked open slowly as the Eevee blinked away bleariness. Taylor took this as her cue. "Aerial Ace, Dandy!"

"...Fuck." Dixie whispered, not bearing to watch.

Dandy smirked as he flew as fast as he could toward Emily, the wind whooshing by him. Emily, startled by the Hoppip propelling full speed toward her, had no time to move as Dandy crashed into her with all of his might, making the Normal-type cry out in pain.

Dixie slid across the ground on her knees, not caring for the mud and grass stains her jeans acquired as she did so. She held out both of her arms, catching her falling Eevee gently, cradling her close to her chest.

"...You did it again, didn't you?" Dixie sighed, stroking Emily's bleeding nose with her fingertips.

The Eevee looked embarrassed and upset - her dark eyes shimmering in sadness. She buried her face in her Trainer's chest, whimpering quietly.

The battle being over, Hoppip retreated to the roost of his trainer's head. Taylor jogged over quickly and kneeled in front of Dixie and Emily. "That offer for potions is still there..." Taylor said, sounding a bit unsure and apologetic.

"...Piss off you." Dixie growled, her face flushing red in embarrassment. She furiously picked herself up from the ground, balancing Emily with her left arm, as she rummaged in her pockets with her right.

"Take that, and die." Dixie spat, throwing a handful of coins at Taylor's feet.

Dixie picked up her fallen sketchbook from in front of the stump she had been sitting on, tucked it inside her jacket and began to walk away.

Taylor began to hold out her hand, ready to say something, but just sighed in defeat, morosely picking up her winnings. _'I would just get her angrier...' _

A bit unsure, Raven went to Taylor's side. "You okay?"

Taylor smiled sadly. "I guess... Tell me, did I say something rude, Raven? I have this weird way of missing the obvious..."

"I think you were nice to her. Much nicer then she was to you," he pointed out. "So you really don't remember if you met her before?"

"I... I don't remember her at all." Taylor shrugged, her shoulders sagging. "Ah, let's just get to Cherrygrove..."

Dandy rubbed his trainer affectionately. She laughed. "Ah, thanks."

Raven smiled. "Cheer up; we'll just get to Cherrygrove."

Taylor smiled back at the older male. "Yeah, you're right; let's go." With that, Raven set off. Taylor glanced at the stump Dixie had been sitting on before following Raven.

* * *

"So... You're telling me... You have a map, but... You don't have a compass?"

Taylor sighed in disbelief as Raven laughed uneasily. "Eh heh... Yeah..."

Taylor was crossed between amusement and disbelief as she wore a confounded smile. "I dunno if I should laugh or what..." She laughed anyway. "That's like brushing your teeth with a toothbrush and no toothpaste..."

"Wait, how is that like- …oh never mind. Anyways, I hope we get to Cherrygrove City soon...I'd like to sleep in a nice bed..." He said, thinking of a nice, fluffy bed to lie down in.

"Ooh, gotta love those beds. Genius, whoever invented them. Wonder what people slept on before?" Taylor was silent for a moment, apparently thinking. Dandy was still on her head, smiling like the cheerful ditz he was, looking around through the forest but never leaving his perch. "I heard, though, ancients slept on rocks."

Raven grimaced at the idea of sleeping on a hard, uncomfortable rock instead of on a cosy mattress. "Not fun."

Taylor laughed. "I can just imagine it- _oww!" _Taylor suddenly hunched over, as if she was older. "I'd throw out my back, jeez."

"So... What brings you to Johto?" Raven asked, changing the topic of sleeping on a rock.

"This is my home region, of course! Though I've been to Kanto." Taylor grinned. "I want to travel to Sinnoh and Hoenn. Maybe even Orre. Better work on my luck, though, or I'll be _killed _in Orre... Heh..."

"Sinnoh?" Raven responded back. "Hey, I'm from Sinnoh. It's pretty nice there, considering I was raised there most of my life. I'm originally from Kanto but my family moved back to Sinnoh 'cause it's our home region."

"Ah, I heard it was nice there!" Taylor commented. "I love to travel. Ever since I was little, I wanted to travel. When I hit ten, I was so excited to leave, but my parents convinced me to train for a while with my new Pokémon." Taylor gestured up toward the Hoppip on her head. "So we've been together around five ye-"

"Oh hey look! A clearing! Finally, I hope there's a nice log to sit on... My legs ache from all this walking!" Raven interrupted while pointing at the clearing ahead.

"Let's go sit, then... We're probably not making too much progress, Mister Forgets-his-compass." Taylor giggled as she skipped to the clearing, sitting down. Raven crossed his arms in embarrassment, following her.

While walking to the clearing, Raven decided he wanted to know more about the rather... _interesting_ girl. "So, Dandy seemed really uh, _dandy_ when it came to battling back there?" he said, referring to her battle with Dixie.

Taylor giggled. "A pun. You're witty too. We're all witty. Pun party, seriously." Taylor high-fived her Hoppip.

"Well, Dandy and I have been together for five years. He was my starter. He's been with me the longest, and considering I don't have that many Pokémon, we battled together a lot." Taylor suddenly hung her head. "I'm not very good at catching Pokémon... Technically I didn't even catch Larcena and Olotl, those were unusual circumstances..."

"But anyway," she continued, "I always wanted to be a Trainer, so I could travel, and see the world, and everyone in it. All the Pokémon, all the people..." She stopped for a moment, a contemplative look on her face.

"When I was a really little kid, my mom had told me that everyone was different. So I asked her why. But she couldn't answer me. Part of me just wants to meet a lot of people and Pokémon, so I could see why... I kind of want to see how everyone ticks, y'know? And I always thought it was interesting how different the natures of all Pokémon and of all people are. Well, obviously. It's mostly 'cause we're raised so different. Humans have technology, Pokémon have nature... But then again, every human is different, as are all Pokémon..." She looked frustrated.

"I'm not making much sense, am I?" She sighed. "I just want to meet a lot of people. Psychology and the brain is just... Interesting, to me."

Raven didn't quite understand everything she said, but he did understand that she wanted to go out and meet lots of people and Pokémon. "Well, being the only boy living with his mom, older sis, little sis, and grandma, not to mention living on the outskirts of the city near a forest, I gotta say, I thought I was the only one who lived a boring life but the day I met Krow, my Murkrow. Actually, let me bring him out so he and Dandy can get acquainted with each other. Krow, c'mon out!"

Raven called out the crow Pokémon as he perched on the man's shoulder and gave Taylor a strange, untrusting look. "Relax, she's okay. Sorry, he doesn't like cute things," as he gave the bird a look that told Krow to apologize for his rudeness.

"Krow's been with me since the beginning, before I began my journey. Ever since, we've been formed an unbreakable bond. Oh yeah, as for Seare," he continued on, calling back out the Charizard who roared loudly in an attempt to show off the roar he's been practicing for a while.

"He's actually the first Pokémon I originally had but had to leave back in Kanto. But long story short, we met again while I was in Kanto. He can be a bit arrogant at times but he's pretty okay once you get to know hi-" before being Flamethrower-ed again.

Taylor gave a large belly laugh at Raven's antics. "Ah ha..." She wiped a tear from her eye. "Ohh, you're hilarious. I like you." Taylor grinned. "Nice to meet you Krow, and good to see you again Seare. Thanks for that oh-so-daring rescue of yours."

Seare puffed out his chest, flapping his wings, as if to agree that yes, he _was _oh-so-daring and gallant enough to save damsels in distress.

"Ah, here are mine." Taylor held out her remaining two Pokéballs, calling forth her Persian and her Wooper. Larcena whacked Taylor "accidentally" with her tail as she yawned, and Olotl shuffled his feet, seeing the imposing figure of a Charizard.

"Eh heh, Larcena's actually sweet," Taylor said, waving her hand dismissively. Larcena held up her chin as if to disagree. "And Olotl is my sexy beast! Aren't you, Olotl?" Taylor cuddled the Wooper, who blushed.

"Larcena was stealing things back when she was a wild Meowth. I found the loot, so they let me have her if I made sure she didn't steal again. That's why I nicknamed her Larcena... Larceny...it's another pun." Taylor smiled warmly at Larcena, who only yawned, laying down and cleaning herself.

"I caught Olotl later. He was being bullied by other Pokémon, so I shooed them away. So he came with me to try to get brave like Dandy and Larcena are."

Olotl blushed again shyly. Taylor pinched his cheeks. "And he's a little toughie; yes. Taught him earthquake and everything." Taylor puffed out her chest.

Dandy looked up from his spot on Taylor's head, then suddenly flew off through the trees quickly. Taylor and Raven jumped up. "Dandy!" Taylor gave a frustrated sigh. "He always _does _this! Not that it's all that bad... Well, aside from getting into situations...at least it's interesting..." Taylor called her other Pokémon back into her Pokéballs and began to run.

"Don't worry, we'll get him back together, I mean, it shouldn't be too hard to catch some pink creature with a plant growing out of it's head right?" he asked, calling back Seare and racing after the Hoppip with Krow flying besides him.

"Raven, Dandy is an explorer. He's been in Ursaring caves and Gyarados lakes. So... On that note... Be careful. Let's split up!" Taylor suggested cheerfully as she ran in the other direction. Raven heard a _thud, _followed by a loud "OUCH," and assumed Taylor hit her head on a tree. It wouldn't be out of character.

Raven decided to assume that Taylor would be okay and continued to chase after the Grass-Flying-type, jumping over bushes and tree roots and dodging anything that didn't seem pleasant like...

"B-Beedrill!"

Raven quickly ducked while running as the bee-like Pokémon buzzed right over his head before he got his head back up with a freaked out look. "I don't like Beedrill," and continued chasing the Hoppip, once again jumping over bushes and plants and tree roots and any neighbouring Pokémon so as to not disturb them. "Okay, I take back what I said before; this Hoppip is ridiculously good at running off!"

Taylor stopped for a moment, catching her breath. _'Bleh, I'm so out of shape. She shook her head. Running... Who invented it?' _

"_Pidge! Pidgey!_"

Taylor glanced up at the sky, shielding her eyes from the sun. "Hm... Judging by the fact that all Pokémon say their name, sans the ones that only growl, of course, I'd say that's a flock of..."

Taylor couldn't finish her sentence as multiple talons from the Pidgey, Pidgeotto, and Pidgeot gripped her arms and shoulders. "Geez... Can't we talk first?" She asked pleadingly, but the Pidgey began flying away, with her as their prey.

Taylor yelped: "I taste really bad! I swear!"

But it was of no use. She was left with only one option. She decided to enjoy the ride.

"Maybe I could see Dandy from up here... And Cherrygrove..." she wondered idly. She suddenly pointed into the opposite direction of where the flock was taking her. "_There's _Cherrygrove! Ah, I feel so silly, we were close to it."

Raven had lost sight of the Pokémon. Damn whoever invented flying; he'd curse them for all eternity... Unless he got wings of his own... Which he'd never have considering he was a human being.

Looking around, he had no idea how long he had been running; the area around him looked exactly like the other, all trees and grass and Pokémon. "Great... Now I'm lost. I hope Taylor's all right, and isn't having some weird accident..." He muttered, as he called out to Krow. The crow was tired as well, as the man decided that he was going to rest here and luckily found a nice place to sit on... a rock.

"Come back Mr. Houndour! I _neeeed_ you--"

_**WHAP! **_

Electrinz gave his trainer an annoyed look as she fell to the ground, stunned. _"Alena, do you ever look to see where you're going?" _

The girl spat out something that looked suspiciously like fragments of tooth. "Me? Look to see where I'm going?" She scoffed. "As if that would ever happen. I happen to take pride in my ability to run into almost every tree in existence!" She rose to her full height, a measly five feet, before proclaiming, "I am the _best _when it comes to running into oaks, pines, maples, giant sequ-"

_"Alena, as much as I respect your ability to slam into my leafy companions out of sheer closed-mindedness, I would suggest that we continue on the search for that dreadful girl and a Houndour."_ Twig said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Alena and Electrinz both looked at Twig in shock. "_Wake up on the wrong side of the bed today, Twigtile?" _Electrinz taunted mischievously.

_"That's it! No one, NO ONE, calls me Twigtile! Prepare for your death, _Electrinzo!" Twig's Leaf Blades began glowing, growing to a length of perhaps three feet.

_"You're going DOWN!"_ Electrinz charged at Twig with Return, glowing red. Twig used his greater speed to his advantage and jumped out of the way just in time, swiping at the Pikachu with Leaf Blade. Electrinz went flying into a tree, dust and debris rising up and preventing Alena from seeing exactly what happened next. One moment she was coughing and spiting stray leaves out of her mouth, and the next Twig and Electrinz were wrestling on the ground.

Twig was seemingly paralysed, one Leaf Blade held in between Electrinz's two forepaws, and the other was being batted away with an Iron Tail.

"I hate it when you two do this," Alena muttered, dragging the rodent off the tree-lizard and holding them apart. "Okay, STOP FIGHTING, and find some poor traveller in the woods that will give us all their food. I'm hungry and we're out of pretzels. It's time to go mooch off of someone else!" The two Pokémon gave each other a look that said: "_How did we get stuck with her as a trainer?"_

Twig sighed and chased after the retreating figure of his trainer, Electrinz following.

* * *

Seated on the rock, Raven was eating the last brownie he had left in hopes that he'd reach Cherrygrove City soon. All six of his Pokémon were out for two reasons: Protection, and because he didn't want to be alone. "Look guys, sorry about getting lost... again... for the 30th time."

Gibs gave him a glare while eating his orange. He wondered what made him stick with this Trainer of his in the first place. Troy was enjoying being in the forest, his home territory being part Grass-type. The tortoise-like Pokémon had snuck up behind Seare, who was eating his favourite food - jalapenos - before the dual Grass-Ground-type shoved him with Wood Hammer, which prompted in the Charizard stumbling forward and falling on his face along with swallowing the rest of them in one gulp.

While Raven struggled to keep Glalia from getting too... physical with him, Lumen was looking fearfully at Seare, who was flailing around like a Magikarp out of water. The Luxio then heard a sigh as Raven ran over there to help the Charizard using the Heimlich manoeuvre.

"Not again! Troy, what did I tell you about doing those kind of pranks? Jeez, Krow, help me out here with Wing Attack to his back!"

The crow-like Pokémon flew over once he was called for and began to help his Trainer get the several or so jalapenos out of Seare's throat. Raven continued to use the manoeuvre but couldn't wrap his arms all around the Charizard's belly as Troy sighed and lifted up his right foot and gave a nice yet not too powerful Wood Hammer to Seare's belly from the front.

The force of the impact caused the jalapenos to fly out of the Charizard's mouth and onto the grass as Seare immediately turned to Troy and started roaring angrily at him about trying to kill him. Troy merely shrugged it off as Seare says something in the Pokémon language that Raven could only wonder what he meant, as Krow merely slapped his wing up at his own face.

Once he saw that, Raven then realised that the Pokémon were fighting again as Troy responded hotly at the Charizard. Soon the other three Pokémon noticed this as Krow muscled in between the Torterra and Charizard to get them to stop bickering, only to be knocked aside by Seare's tail.

Raven grumbled bitterly. This was NOT his day...

"PRETZELS!"

A blue blur suddenly came rushing over to the Charizard, jumping up and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Hi, do you have pret- hey wait, I know you...YOU'RE THE TURD WHO ATE MY FREAKING CHOCOLATE!" She jumped off of the none-too-pleased Charizard and glared at the older boy.

_"Good God, she's getting Flamethrower-ed, isn't she?" _Electrinz muttered in annoyance.

_"Yep. She sure is." _

"Turd? Chocolate? Wait, did you EAT her chocolate, Seare?" Raven asked the Charizard as the Pokémon smacked him with his tail. "Ow! What was that for!?"

"YOU ATE MY CHOCOLATE!" Alena suddenly lunged at Raven and grabbed his backpack. In a flash, she had grabbed a bag of pretzels and stuffed them into her mouth.

_"Sorry, she goes nuts when she's hungry." _Electrinz explained. _"Give her a sec and she'll calm down." _

Of course, all Raven heard was: _"Piika pikaa pikapika piika!" _

"What the? Why is a Pikachu trying to talk to me? I don't speak Pokémon. And since when did I have a bag of pretzels? ...Damn, I wish they were chocolate pretzels..."

Electrinz sighed. "_You know, I really wish humans would just learn to speak Pokémon. It would make things much easier." _He grabbed a stick and began drawing in the dirt. He drew a stick person, then put a minus sign, then an apple. Finally, he drew an equal sign and drew a stick person crazy eyes and swirls around their head tackling an apple.

Raven looked down at the drawing in the dirt, analysed it a bit before looking back at the Pikachu with his head tilted to the side. "Oh, you can draw in the dirt? That's really clever!" he said, patting the Pikachu on the head. Apparently, that wasn't what the Pokémon was trying to explain to him.

Electrinz growled at the hand in warning, holding himself back from a Thundershock. He pulled on the hem of Raven's pants, tugging him over to Alena. The girl was still stuffing her face full with pretzels, but Electrinz put a stop to that with a Thunderbolt.

The shocked girl lay twitching on the ground, as Electrinz shook his head. "_Alena stop eating __**that-**_" He knocked a pretzel out of her hand -_ "and ask him if he's seen a Houndour already!" _

"Have Houndour seen you today?" she asked.

"A Houndour?" Raven responded. He then thought about it, seeing as he had seen many Pokémon since he arrived in Johto... "Well, maybe... Or maybe not? Uh... Would you take those answers?" He asked nervously as he didn't really know if he'd seen a Houndour.

But then, if this girl was chasing after a Houndour like Alessandra was chasing a Vulpix... "Hey, can I ask if you saw a girl with dishwater blonde hair wearing a black and red bandana with crossbones on it, chasing after a Vulpix? Or if you saw a brown haired girl chasing a Hoppip by any chance?"

"Nope, sorry. I did see a flock of Pidgey and their evolutions _carrying _a brown-haired girl! They were over there!" Alena jabbed a finger over Raven's shoulder, coming awfully close to poking out his eye. Meanwhile, Electrinz was laughing at Twig, who had just now managed to catch up with the others, having said "Hello!" to all the trees along to way.

Raven flinched when her finger came dangerously close to his eye before raising a brow. "Wait, a flock of Pidgey and their evolutions are what?" He asked, as he thought about the "brown-haired girl" detail though, since Alena was here, then that meant...

"Holy crap, that's Taylor! She's been kidnapped by a bunch of rogue pigeons! Everyone, return!" he cried out, calling all of his Pokémon back. "Except you, Krow, I need your help to-"

But he didn't get a chance to finish as a Pidgeot had appeared and used Whirlwind on the crow Pokémon, sending him back into his Pokéball. Raven looked nervously at the big bird. "Uh... H-hello? Nice weather we're having to today uh..." - And that was when he noticed that there were a bunch of nests in the trees in the area where Taylor was last spotted.

"Mr. Big Bird... S-sorry to step into your uh... t-territory!" he finished running back to Alena.

"Hey! Stop!" Alena yelled at the giant bird, waving her arms around. "Bring his friend back you dweeby birds!"

Unfortunately, being able to understand Pokémon could be a royal pain sometimes.

"_Dweeby birds?!" _The Pidgeot screeched, _"Now troops, battle formation!"_

"Oh dear." Alena gasped. "Eat HIM, not me!" She shoved Raven at the Pidgeot and ran down the hill as fast as she could - right into a tree. Electrinz rolled his eyes and began charging energy for a Thunderbolt.

Having been shoved at the Pidgeot, Raven ducked and saw that the Pikachu was readying a very powerful attack.

"Whatever he's doing, I am NOT going to be fried like Mr. Big Bird here!" He quickly turned around in the opposite direction and ran, tripping over a rock which sent him tumbling down the hill, past where Alena crashed into a tree before he crashed into a rock.

The gathering flock of Pidgey and Pidgeotto hovered around the electrical rodent. "_I'll give one last chance!" _Pidgeot called out. _"Leave out territory now, or we'll attack without mercy! We are the elites of the Pokémon world!"_

_"You stand no chance against us!"_ - One of the Pidgey yelled.

_"We'll crush you!" - _Screamed another.

_"Leave now, foolish crea-"_

_**BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTT!! **_

Electrinz poked one of the scorched birds with a paw. He sighed in relief before rushing over to Twig, who was carrying Alena over his shoulder.

"I is not potato!" Alena yelled, having been knocked silly by the impact.

The Pidgeot and his "army" suddenly perked up at the mention of the word potato, rising into the air as one and cawing: "_Food, food, foodfood! Food, food, foodfood!"_

_"Alena, snap out of it!" _Electrinz yelled, trying to get Alena's attention, _"We need to get away!"_

Raven slowly regained consciousness after having a very pleasant yet short dream about a girl. Of course... That dream was interrupted when he heard Pidgeot and his army cawing out something about food. Raven blinked a few times before seeing the army of birds about to strike at the girl, who was unconscious. He reached for his Pokéball.

"Shoot, I need your help Gibs!"

Out of the Pokéball came the very irritated Garchomp, who had been enjoying his wonderful dreams of being in Orange-land, only to have it interrupted by his idiotic Trainer. Raven noticed the Pokémon's ticked-off look before looking at the birds then getting an idea.

"Oh look... Food!" before throwing the oranges he had quickly pulled out of his pack at several of the birds, pelting them and covering them in the juices. This was quickly noticed by Gibs, whose eyes widened and went into a dark trance-like state before roaring loudly and chasing madly after the bird Pokémon.

The Pidgeot saw this and soon noticed that the Garchomp was on an unstoppable rampage and looked VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY _VERRRRRY_ hungry - before issuing orders to his troop and flying away as quickly as possible to keep from becoming the dual Dragon-Ground-type's lunch!

Raven grinned at the fleeing birds as he saw Gibs' sad expression but soon turned angry and at him as he immediately called back the Pokémon before he became the new course on the menu!

Afterwards he went to check on Alena, who was slowly coming out of her daze although she was still muttering 'potato' or some other food word he had no idea of. He waved a hand in front of her face.

"Hey, you alright? How many fingers do I have?" he asked, holding up a hand.

"Forty-three... Potatoes... Three fingers... Oh!" Alena wriggled free of Twig's grasp and shook her head. "Sorry about that." she said, "I really wonder if I ought to start wearing a helmet whenever I go outside..."

Raven wanted to agree with that thought about helmets but he didn't have time to think about that. He tried to look for the Pidgeot and his flock and saw that they were about to become a small speck in the sky.

"Dang, they're getting away! ...I should've stuck jalapenos on their wings and sent Seare after them? Oh well," as he turned to the girl. "Glad you're okay, you crashed into a tree."

"Yeah, I do that often. Anyway, maybe we should go into town and ask if they'd seen any flocks of flying Pokémon lately so we can find your friend!" Alena stated.

_"Well, the next town is Cherrygrove, and it should be over there, according to the map," _Twig explained, folding the town map back up.

Raven's eyes lit up. "Really!? Okay then, let's get going to Cherrygrove City and my comfortable and fluffy bed!" - He exclaimed, raising his fist and running off in some direction.

It didn't take long for him to come back and ask: "Which way to Cherrygrove City again?" - Which prompted his newfound companions to wonder, how'd he get through life?

* * *

Taylor twiddled her thumbs, measuring roughly how high up she was.

_'Hm...we're about 45 feet up in the air...' _

Taylor suddenly struggled with all of her might. The flying types were taken aback by the girl's sudden motivation to free herself. Taylor took the opportunity to strike the only Pidgeot that was carrying her, making the Pidgey and Pidgeotto falter a bit before dropping her.

_'Don't panic don't panic...' _Taylor told herself. She spread out, trying to slow her fall, bending her knees and trying to land feet first as she approached impact. Instead of landing on the ground, though, Taylor was battered by branches as she fell through the trees, her speed slowing abruptly.

After being bounced around painfully by the branches and being scratched, she abruptly stopped above the ground, awkwardly caught in the tree in an unmovable position.

Suddenly, from the foliage, Dandy emerged, holding a berry. Taylor sighed in relief, then winced in pain. That fall was painful.

"Hey Dandy, found you... Went skydiving, too..." Taylor groaned in pain slightly, trying to dislodge herself, but to no avail. Dandy tried to help, but there was little the one pound Pokémon could do.

"WHA!?" A girl screamed, startled by the snapping sounds coming from the tree above her. She darted away, out from underneath the sound, but nothing came down. Hearing a groan and a muffled voice, she cautiously walked back under the tree, looking up into the leaves.

"Uh... Hello? Anyone up there?"

* * *


	3. Gravity Defying Moonwalks!

* * *

**Chapter 3:**

**"****Gravity Defying Moonwalks!"**

* * *

Authored by:

Scene 1 - **Thoughtless7** & **Tsukikari Kitsune **

Scene 2 - **Raven the Ravenous**, **Soaringdragon43**

Scene 3 - **Soaringdragon43**

Scene 4 - **Raven the Ravenous **& **Soaringdragon43**

Scene 5 - **Raven the Ravenous**, **Icepik **& **The Silent Hero**

Scene 6 - **The Keeper of Truth**, **Black Knight Dai **& **Raven the Ravenous**

Scene 7 - **Thoughtless7** & **Tsukikari Kitsune**

* * *

**  
**"Uh... Hello? Anyone up there?"

A girl stood below her, looking around the trees in confusion. Taylor looked down at her, wincing at the movement.

_'Urk, maybe I would've had better luck with the flock...' _

"Hey down there... Can you be a dear and help me? I seem to be stuck in this tree here."

"Uh... OK! I'll try!" - She said, looking up to where the voice came from, seeing a girl lodged uncomfortably in the tree. She shuffled around, thinking.

"Uh oh... what am I supposed to do...? I don't have any flying types... Oh, I know!" She pulled out a Pokéball and threw it in front of her. It popped open, and a Pokémon emerged. "Blithe, can you go and climb that tree? Someone's stuck up there!"

The Combusken squawked in agreement, and started jumping onto branches, searching for his target.

Taylor heard the fire type slashing his way through the branches. After a few seconds, he landed in front of her, balancing on another branch expertly. The Combusken grabbed at her, slashing any branches that would have obscured her way out. He jumped down, carrying her.

Taylor sat on the ground as soon as she could, thankful for solid ground. She looked over the many bloody little cuts she had, and felt emerging bruises on many parts of her body, but she'd manage.

She finally looked up at her saviour, an older looking girl with dishwater blonde hair and bangs that were swept to the right side.

Taylor smiled weakly. "Thanks, I would been stuck up there for a few days… Eh heh..."

The older girl sat down on her knees in front of Taylor, giving the Combusken a congratulatory pat on the head. "Don't worry about it, I'm glad you're okay," - she said, sounding breathless with worry. "Are you sure you're okay, though? You must've fallen from quite a height to get beat up so bad." Her eyes scoured Taylor's arms and legs, eyeing the cuts and developing bruises.

Taylor sighed, then smiled. "I was lucky. I could have been impaled by one of those trees, or branches. But all things considered, I would rather take my chance free falling then dealing with a whole flock of Pidgey and the like..." Taylor looked up suddenly, then breathed a sigh of relief. "They're gone; that's good. They took me, probably as prey. When we started to get low, I decided to struggle. I'd say, given the fact that the Pidgey and Pidgeotto struggled with me a bit... Around thirty-five, forty feet? Then I just remembered what I learned about free falling and hoped for some luck." She paused. "I'm hungry. And my butt hurts."

Alessandra stared at the girl for a moment, dumbfounded. _'Forty feet?! This girl fell forty feet, and lived to tell the tale?!'_ - She thought.

"You've got some luck, there," she commented. "What's your name? I'm Alessandra. I have some food in my backpack, but not a whole lot... I've been lost in these woods for a while now." She shuffled through her backpack, pulling out various items and setting them on the forest floor. "Ah, finally! Here you go," she said, handing her a small container. "I have bandages as well, if you need them."

Taylor eyed the food ravenously, suddenly truly remembering how hungry she was. She happily took some of the various foods, opting for a bag of trail mix. She chewed hungrily, making an 'om nom nom' sound.

"Ja go'a love," Taylor said, between bites, "Mah luck. I meaf, I aways en' up in dese weird situations." She swallowed. "Like that chick. What's-her-face... Princess Peach, yeah! But somehow the giant hulking turtle doesn't kill her. Well, in my case, it was a long fall and a tree, but yeah. Gotta thank the arch position for that." She began eating again, then suddenly remembered something. "Oi! Dandy! I'm out of the tree!"

A Hoppip emerged from the branches, sighing in relief as he wore a huge smile, flying over to hug his trainer. "Yeah, this is Dandy. He was trying to get me out. Playing with branches and such. Mustn't have noticed. I'm Taylor, by the way, Alessam...Alen... Ya know, I'm just gonna call you Kit. You look like a Kit." Taylor grinned as she reached for the bandages. "Can't tell you how many times I've used these... I'm very accident-prone, as I've said..."

Alessandra had no idea where the name _Kit _came from, or how Taylor could tell what a person's name should be just by looking, but she didn't mind all that much. "OK, sure! Go ahead and call me Kit if you like, if it's easier. It's cute!" - She said lightly, smiling as Taylor bandaged herself up quickly and efficiently. "I'm very accident prone too; I fall down a lot out here in the woods... By the way, do you have any idea where we are?" - She asked, watching the Hoppip fly happily around their heads.

"Oh, yeah. Cherrygrove is..." Taylor looked up at the tree she had been stuck in, finishing up with the bandages. "I saw it. It was that way." she pointed. "We're not that far." Taylor grinned sheepishly at Alessandra. "Would you mind if I tagged along, Kit-Kit? We're going the same way. I feel a little better, but I still want some doctors to check me out. I'll be a little slow on my feet, but...?"

"Hee hee, sure!" she nodded, "I was going to ask you if you wanted to come with me anyway, even if I have someone point me in the right direction I get lost." She smiled sheepishly. "Maybe I'll finally make it to a town this time! I've been lost ever since I set foot here in Johto..." she trailed off. "Compasses aren't much help, it seems."

"Heh heh... Raven..." Taylor mused to herself, giggling as she remembered the boy Raven, who didn't have a compass.

"All right then!" Taylor pointed toward Cherrygrove dramatically, linking her arm with Alessandra's. "TO CHERRYGROVE!"

Taylor winced suddenly. "I... Shouldn't do that."

Alessandra giggled, as the two set off walking.

* * *

Raven scanned ahead for the _must've-_been seventh time. They had to be close, they just had to be. He could have sworn he saw a bunch of buildings in the distance while overlooking the hill they left... Five hours ago. Despite that, the man was excited.

Finally, the first thing he'd do once they got into the city would be to run straight to the nearest Pokémon Centre, check his Pokémon in and get something to eat. The man turned to his new travelling companion... Or rather, his third, since the other two had "mysteriously" disappeared.

"So, what are you going to do the minute we get to Cherrygrove City, Alena?"

The girl yawned and grabbed out an empty bag of crackers from her bag. "I need to buy more food, for one thing. And I could use some new socks. Really, I'm planning on getting to Violet City as soon as possible so I can beat the gym. Not like I'm planning on challenging the Indigo League, let's just say I've had a little bit of... trouble with the Sinnoh and Hoenn Leagues." She laughed nervously before continuing. "Also, my friend Alora is the champion, and she could probably beat us easily."

Behind her, Electrinz laughed.

"Hey, just be glad she isn't travelling with us now! She would kick your little mousy bum!"

The man blinked. "Really? Your friend is the Champion of Kanto? Odd, I challenged the Elite Four of Kanto but… I was swiftly beaten by Bruno. I'd have to say, while I did beat Lorelei _barely,_ it was _that_ battle that exhausted all of my Pokémon that caused us to lose to Bruno. That Onix of his is ridiculously fast! How is a Rock-type Pokémon fast?"

The man rubbed his temple. "Thinking about that is hurting my head. I hope we get to Cherrygrove City soon. Maybe I should stock up on some Potions and Antidotes and some of those Heals? Like Burn Heal and Ice Heal?"

The two continued walking until Raven could have sworn he could hear the faint sound of civilisation. "Do you hear that, Alena?"

Alena didn't answer - she had already run ahead, Electrinz hot on her heels. Apparently she had heard the sounds of civilisation as well and took off.

Raven was left in her dust. That girl seemed to really be more eager than him to get to the city. Without giving anymore further thought, Raven followed after her in a sprint.

As Raven chased after the girl, he had only just begun to see more and more people. There was a large variety, all ranging from young to old, to good-looking to... well, let's just say we know what the other is. Trainers battling, talking with each other, trading with each other in the open with a trading machine.

And it wasn't just the Trainers; there were those _flashy ones_, the ones called Coordinators - who show off their skills with style in Pokémon Contests.

He also saw just regular people, some with Pokémon and some without.

Taking in the sights and not really paying attention, he was nearly hit by a speeding motorcycle that the one of the city's policeman was riding on. Raven slowly got up - and after shaking his head awake a bit, only to realise he had lost sight of Alena. "Well... So much for travelling together!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Alena barged through the glass doors of the Pokémon Centre, almost taking them off. Nurse Joy cringed as Alena ran to the counter, pulling out her Pokéballs as she did so.

"Welcome to the Pokémon Centre!" - Nurse Joy started.

"Just heal them!" Alena barked sliding them across the counter. Electrinz jumped up too, continuing his journey through the Center as he landed on a tray with needles on it, sending the pointed projectiles at a grumpy Nurse Joy, who grabbed him with one hand and ran into the back room with Alena's other Pokémon, being good little angels inside their Pokéballs.

* * *

Raven looked up high into the sky at the Murkrow scanning the city below him. "Krow! Do you see the Pokémon Center?"

The Murkrow cawed back a response before flying off in some direction. Raven quickly followed him, moving carefully through several groups of people in the city square he was in. He had quite the time getting to the Centre. He had to rush through two people arguing over which was better - Espeon or Umbreon - by carefully squeezing through them.

Next he had to dive out of the way of a Thunderbolt which came from a confused Ampharos battling a Stantler. He quickly apologized to the two Trainers whose battle he had interrupted as the Murkrow cawed again to him before flying further ahead.

Raven jumped over an unfinished block of concrete, ignoring the yells of the construction men before he saw the Centre up ahead.

He saw some Trainers entering, some even giving him weird "What the heck?" looks, as he began to run faster to the now open Centre door as the Trainers walked inside.

It began to close as soon as no one stood out on the mat - and before Raven could get through, it had closed shut, sending him careening right into the door, his face pressed against the glass. The Trainers inside looked at him in confusion and amusement as Nurse Joy saw the door open once more as the man crawled inside and up to her counter, grabbing the edges to support himself up as Krow perched on top of his head.

"H...Hello, Nurse Joy... Could you please...? Could you please check in my Poké-" Raven began, before collapsing to the floor. All that running had tired him out.

"HI RAVEN!" Alena shouted, sneaking up behind the boy in question.

After having several minutes to gain his breath and several more to even get up, Raven was standing at the front of the counter of the Centre acting as if his entrance had never happened.

"Here Nurse, my Pokémon," he said, taking the Pokéballs off his belt and handing them to the waiting woman - who took them kindly, as Krow flew onto the tray to go along with the other Pokémon. The nurse wheeled the cart into the back room.

Raven then, at last, turned to face Alena. "Oh, hey Alena? When did you get here?"

"I got here before you!" - She taunted.

The first Nurse Joy came back, covered in bruises and apparently had been shocked by Electrinz numerous times. "JUST TAKE THE LITTLE MONSTERS." - She stated, throwing Electrinz into Alena's arms before falling over.

Raven, not understanding what had happened, kindly asked, "Uh, Nurse, what about my Poké-"

"They're still in the healing process!" - She snapped, silencing both him and the entire lobby, before she calmed down and smiled.

"Welcome to the Pokémon Centre, may I help you?" - she asked a Trainer that had approached her at the counter; ignoring Raven and Alena as she took the Trainer's Pokéballs and took them back to the room behind. Raven turned to where Alena stood with a confused look.

"W-What just happened?"

However, the girl had already disappeared.

Raven shook his head before heading to an empty table to wait for his Pokémon to be healed.

Whilst he sat there with nothing much to do, the reason he had originally come to Johto sprang up into his mind. The reason was a rather silly yet stupid one: to find his former friend and rival and retrieve his super-shiny rare Charizard trading card.

Well, yes that really IS a stupid reason for his journey of three years, but he did get to go to other regions without the sole purpose of "becoming the region's Champion".

- That was his goal before in Sinnoh, but it was quickly forgotten when he was blackmailed by that rival of his. And because his rival was constantly on the go, he had to do his best to keep up with him - like in Hoenn when he abandoned taking on Hoenn's Gyms after acquiring his fifth badge.

Now here he was, in Johto, having to forego his quest to challenge the Gyms but then again, he never really cared much for it.

It was when he heard the typical 'ding' sound that he went to check back at the front counter and asked the nurse again. "Uh, Nurse, are my Pokémon healed yet?"

Nurse Joy had calmed down to his relief and became her usual self. "Yes, here they are," she told him, handing him his Pokéballs and Krow, whom was looking shiftily around, possibly looking for a victim to Peck out his anger on.

Raven forgot that the crow may have seen something cute in the Centre on their way in so to avoid further trouble and getting kicked out of the building, he called back the bird without a word and then went to find something to eat in the lobby.

* * *

The next day, as the Trainers in the Pokémon Centre slept soundly throughout the still-buzzing loudness of the city, as the sun rose to signal morning; a lone figure appeared outside one of many Pokémon stores.

However, there was a bit of a snag. The person had come at a bad time, as it was early morning. As such, very few of the stores were open. The man had to wait outside for a couple of hours before the people had gotten ready and unlocked their doors.

Inside the store finally, the man stared down the store owner with a blank expression on his face.

"...Are you okay, son? Do you want to buy anything?"

The man told him his full name and said to put everything he bought on his tab.

Later on during that day, Raven had finished with his daily routine of keeping his hygiene clean as he walked carefully to a table with a large stack of pancakes on his plate. - Yet before he could fork the first into his mouth, someone had burst into the Centre, looking tired.

He quickly caught his breath before looking up and shouting: "Everyone, there's a thief who came in the morning and bought everything from the stores and didn't pay for the items!" - He yelled, as one of the Trainers looked up from eating his bacon.

"Huh, a thief? What does he look like?"

"Well, he's tall, wears a brown jacket, has black hair and looks-" - His eyes widened, as he pointed at Raven. "Like that guy!"

Raven, not understanding what was going on, gave the person a strange look. "Do I know you or do you know me?"

The Trainer that was asked scratched his head in confusion. "Huh, there's a guy that looks like 'that guy'?" - He said, looking at Raven.

His friend nodded her head in agreement, looking in the same direction. "I'm confused?"

The person ignored their questions and continued to shout: "That's him, that's the guy! Hey, I found him!"

Raven then watched as an angry store owner came into the Centre holding a pitchfork, followed by hundreds of others. "Great, now I can gut him!"

Raven noticed the pitchfork with frightened eyes. "Uh... W-Why do you have pitchforks?"

"To gut you out, you thief!"

The same girl, who was confused, now jumped up in terror. "Oh my God! He has a pitchfork!"

"Have the farmers gone mad!?"

"Are they allowed to carry those around?"

But the store owner did not pay attention to their comments as he was backed by his fellow store owners.

"Let's get him!"

There was no convincing this angry mob-wielding pitchforks and chainsaws.

"Wait, _why_ do they have chainsaws? Since when do angry mobs have chainsaws?"

Raven quickly made his run, calling out Troy to use Wood Hammer to break down the wall for his quick escape. Breaking down the wall angered the Nurse Joy, who was all for helping him, had he NOT broken down the wall.

"Everyone go around the other side and cut him off!" - She yelled.

Raven called back Troy and jumped through the hole. So much for trying to have a nice breakfast…

So began Raven's attempt at escaping the huge angry mob of store owners wielding items from pitchforks to chainsaws, to a bazooka to an electric shotgun. And whilst the destruction of the city was inevitable - due to the mob's aggressive nature, Raven was also blamed for it for no particular reason; except that he is the thief they are trying to catch dead or alive.

"Great, first New Bark Town and now Cherrygrove City!? What is it with angry mobs wanting to kill me?!"

Whilst running, he saw a hidden alley - and quickly slipped into it, staying quiet until the entire mob had run off past him; chasing after whatever it whatever they thought was Raven.

Trying to get his heart to stop beating from the excitement, Raven leaned back against the wall with a sigh. "Phew, that was close... I wonder why they're after me, though? I didn't do anything..."

Suddenly, a man with a black cloak came from seemingly nowhere... Falling from twenty feet in the air. He fell down flat on his face, got up, and brushed himself off. He then turned to Raven.

"Hey! You're Raven, right? It seems like those folks in Cherrygrove aren't too fond of you. Then again, maybe that Ditto was the reason..." - he said, which made Raven's eyes widen in confusion.

"What? You didn't know? A man came through here this morning. Said his name was Carl or something. His Ditto took the appearance of you, and bought tons of things in town. It told them to put it on its tab. Unless you find that Ditto, you're screwed." - He finished up, leaving Raven with a much more confused look.

"Oh, and I require a box of waffles for my services." The man said, making a demanding gesture towards him.

"What's your name and how do I know you're telling the truth?" Raven asked, taken aback and ignoring the question.

"Well, my name's Zack. As for how you know I'm telling the truth... Look to your left." Zack answered.

As Raven looked to the left, he saw a pale, thin, brown-haired man wearing black who stuck out like a sore thumb in the almost deserted streets, with a Ditto that had transformed itself to have bird legs, walking through the town with a cart full of groceries. Raven immediately took off after them.

"Hey! Raven! You owe me a box of waffles!" Zack screamed after him, which attracted Carl's attention, who panicked and ran.

"That kid owes me some waffles... Wait, maybe he had some in his pack!" Zack mused, and took off after Raven.

* * *

"Sybil! Force Palm!"

"YIPE!"

There was a loud thud as the Houndour's spine connected with the tree. It let out a small whimper as it shook its head, trying to gain its bearings.

"You're making this a lot harder than it has to be, kiddo."

The Houndour growled as it looked up to face its attacker. It was a human male, only an adolescent by the looks of it. He had short, dirty blond hair and wore a long denim coat that looked almost like a lab coat. A pair of rimless glasses was resting on the bridge of his nose, right in front of two green eyes that looked quite pleased. A Lucario walked up behind him, apparently the one called Sybil.

The man took a step forward, brandishing a syringe, to which the injured canine growled. He retracted his foot and sighed.

"Look, darling," he began, "I don't want to hurt you. All I want is a blood sample. But if you continue to struggle like this, I'm afraid things are going to get rough. Now, if you want to make this easy on yourself, I suggest you shut up and bend over so we can get this over with."

He paused, cocking an eyebrow. He turned to his compatriot and said: "That sounded _really_ wrong, didn't it?"

"You have no idea," The Lucario, a female, responded in the human tongue, shaking her head.

Suddenly a voice rang out: "Hey you, leave that Pokémon alone!"

The blond-haired teen looked up to see another boy just about his age walking towards him.

This new arrival was polishing a Pokéball as he smirked. The red and white ball seemed like a beacon against the boy's green shirt and black vest.

The boy spoke again as he released the Pokémon contained within the ball: "Rise, Hero!"

The usual white flash occurred revealing a well toned Blaziken. The blaze Pokémon quickly made his intentions known as he lit the flames on his arms. The proud trainer asked his latest opponent: "Who are you and what are you doing to that Houndour?"

"Whoa, dude, calm down. Take a chill pill. If you don't have a chill pill, take one of those chill strips. You put it on your tongue, it dissolves, _chill,_" the blond responded, talking almost a mile a minute.

"You're running your mouth again..." - The Lucario chimed, getting into a battle stance.

"Shut up!" - He turned to the Lucario, glaring.

"Okay, your knowledge of Red vs. Blue is impressive, but you are dodging my question. Tell me who you are and what your intentions are, and I might just go on my way…" - Replied the other teen.

"Look, I'm a scientist." - The boy in blue responded. "All I want is a _liiittle_ Dark-type blood to run some experiments on. Is that too much to ask?"

"Yes it is. Why do you need Dark-type blood anyway?"

"Break the laws of reality. It's what I do," he said, sounding almost proud.

"Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna let ya do that. Hero, protect the Houndour!" - Replied the grey-haired boy as he stepped between the Pokémon and its would-be captor.

"Are you getting paid to annoy me or something?" - came the exasperated reply.

"What'll it take to get you to go away? Money? Women? ...Men?"

"Crowe..." Sybil growled threateningly.

"What? It's a perfectly viable possibility," the Trainer said defensively.

"Okay, first - nothing you do will make me step away so you can harm this innocent Houndour for some kind of weird experiment… And second... Your name is Crowe?"- Asked the slightly-disgusted boy.

"This region has a Gym Leader named _Bugsy_ and you're picking at_ my_ name?" Crowe said, bemused. "If my name's so weird, then what the hell is yours?"

"My name is Jason Brancher, but enough formalities. Now are we gonna battle, or just talk?"

"If that's the way you want it..." Crowe said, putting away his syringe. "_Yipee-kai-yay_, mother-fucker! Syb', you're up!"

"Okay, time to show you why some call me 'The Tactician'. Hero, stand strong and use Swords Dance!" - Yelled Jason.

The Blaze Pokémon quickly flung its arms wide and summoned power deep within itself.

"I don't care if they call you Mister President, you're gonna lose either way!" Crowe shouted, sweeping his arms out. "Syb', go crazy on 'em!"

"My pleasure…" - she purred.

The Lucario made a mad dash for her opponent. As the distance closed between them, she got down into a slide, heading straight for the Combusken's legs.

"Hero, aim low and use your Blaze Kick!" Jason commanded.

Hero quickly squatted down and swung a burning leg at the incoming Lucario; however Sybil was prepared, and dodged the kick with a few easily pulled off back flips.

"Dodge _this!_" - She snarled savagely, sending a Vacuum Wave after the avian.

Hero couldn't dodge the attack and was knocked down. The red bird quickly stood up again, waiting for its trainer's command. Jason quickly ordered: "Hero, close the gap and use Blaze Kick!"

Hero heard and obeyed, quickly closing the gap between Sybil and himself.

"Well, fu-!"

_**WHAM! **_

"...Ow," Sybil groaned as her back slid down the tree she'd been hurled against.

"Hero, fall back for now and use another Swords Dance!" - Hero performed a back flip and pulled energy from within to further empower himself.

Sybil picked herself back up, shaking her head. "What's the matter, Flyboy?" - She asked, grinning smugly. "Afraid you can't beat me of your own accord?"

Hero's anger gained the best of him and caused him to sprint towards Sybil. Jason warned his Pokémon: "Hero, fall back. It's a trap!"

The statement fell on deaf ears as the Blaze Pokémon raced forward.

The Blaziken rammed his hand forward, set on gouging the taunting canine's eyes out. - Just as his claws were about to connect, however, all his fingers ran through was air.

"Hey, Flyboy..."

Hero glanced down to see Sybil bending over backwards on the ground. Her legs sprung forward, wrapping themselves around his waist. In a split second, he found her crimson eyes inches away from his.

"Did ya' miss me?"

- With that, she opened her mouth wide and sunk her teeth into the bewildered bird's shoulder.

"Hero, shake that dog off of you!" - yelled Jason; however, Hero was already ahead of him.

Hero ran forward as best he could and slammed himself on the ground. The slam loosened Sybil's grip just enough to allow Hero to escape.

Hero stood over the female Lucario and landed a firm Blaze Kick into her side, flinging her into the air like a rag doll.

Sybil tumbled along the ground, skipping like a rock across water until she came to a stop several yards away, her back to her opponent. She cringed a little bit, letting out a small moan, before lifting her torso off the ground. Crowe let out a sigh of relief, releasing a breath he hadn't even realized he was holding.

She wiped her mouth off on the side of her arm, rubbing off a bit of blood that was trickling from the corner of her jaws. She stared at it for a second before turning to look at Hero.

"Aw…" - she cooed, cracking a smile, "And here I thought we had something special."

She pushed off the ground, staggering a bit as she got herself off her feet. A blue and purple aura that rippled like fire wrapped around her hands. She jerked her head backwards and said: "Care to finish this?"

"Gladly. Hero, prepare to counter her attack with Brave Bird!" Hero heard and obeyed, readying his body for the impact to come.

Hero slowly bent his knees allowing for better balance and a strong push off. He also brought his clenched fists down to his side as he started to glow with a great power. Jason knew this was going to be the final move.

The Lucario struck first. She released the power of her Aura Sphere at the Blaziken as Jason called off the attack quickly and shouted for Hero to use Mirror Move in a split second. At his Trainer's command, the Blaziken quickly formed a mirror-like wall that replicated the Aura Sphere which was now heading straight towards the Aura Sphere in front of it.

But before the two attacks could collide, a figure ran out into the clearing while shouting: "HEY! DO ANY OF YOU GUYS KNOW THE WAY TO VIOLET CITY!?"

The two Trainers quickly turned their heads to none other than Raven, whom had some bits of leaves and twigs in his hair. Quickly remembering that their Pokémon were launching powerful attacks, they turned to tell their Pokémon to dodge, but the Pokémon had turned their heads to the interruption as well.

They snapped back to attention and started to move, but it was a little too late to dodge the attacks - as the two dual Fighting-type Pokémon were struck hard by the Aura Sphere and suddenly knocked out.

The two Trainers gaped at the abruptness of the battle's end as Raven watched the two call back their respective Pokémon into their Pokéball. The young man rubbed his head sheepishly at what had happened.

"Erm... Did I interrupt something?"

"Uh, nothing really," - said Jason with regret in voice. "We were just... Uh... _What_ were we fighting about Crowe?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Crowe asked, his mouth slightly agape. "After all that cheesy heroism crap, you forgot what we were fighting about!?"

"Well... Yeah, kinda," - replied Jason as he rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "Yeah, trust me. I feel really stupid right now."

Crowe sighed. "What we were fighting about was whether I could get a_ harmless_ blood sample from that wounded Houndour."

"That blood sample wouldn't have been '_harmless_,' but whilst we are on the subject, where is it?" - said Jason, raising a good point.

"Oh, you mean the Houndour that bit me when I tried to help it? It ran away not shortly after in..." - The young man pointed to his right. "That way. And I doubt you'd both be able to catch up to it; it might be pretty far from here now."

Raven then put his hand under his chin. "But I wonder... Who hurt it that badly? Well, I guess it could have been any Pokémon in the woods...?" - He mused, as he looked back at the two. "Oh, right, sorry about that! The name's Raven Crimgray and I'm currently on my way to Violet City, but..." - he rubbed the back of his head again in embarrassment.

"I'm not quite familiar with the layout of Johto and I while I have a map of Johto, I don't have a compass, so it'd be nice if you guys could point out the right direction for me? No wait, better yet, why don't we travel together? As the saying goes, 'The more the merrier!' and I'll be very merry if we get to travel together, uh..."

Jason quickly advanced and shook Raven's hand as he introduced himself: "Pleasure to meet you. My name is Jason Brancher of Littleroot town in the Hoenn region." Jason turned and pointed at the would-be scientist, "That guy's name is Crowe."

Crowe, however, wasn't paying attention. He was shaking, staring at the spot where the Houndour had been. He turned to Jason, growling at him before shouting: "ARCEUS _FUCKING_ DAMMIT!"

Jason turned and asked: "So Crowe, wanna join us as we head to Violet City?"

Crowe glared daggers at Jason and opened his mouth to say something, but after a second only let out a sigh. "Okay," he said dejectedly, "I have to go to the Pokémon Centre anyway. Besides, Sybil's gonna be pissed when she gets out; I'd rather let her out in a place with witnesses."

Raven went to the two boys and put his hands on their shoulders. "Glad to hear that. I almost thought that I'd be travelling alone at night. Scary place the night is..." - he muttered the last part to himself. "So, what are we waiting for Jason, Crowe?" - He asked, stepping forward while pointing towards what he assumed was the direction to Violet City.

"Forward to Violet City!" - He shouted, running off into the direction, only to return moments later with a sheepish smile. "Uh, _which way _is it to Violet City?"

* * *

"Did you know Johto has more angry mobs per capita then any other region?"- Taylor informed her blonde companion, as an angry mob began running by her and Alessandra through the forest.

"I think we're close to Cherrygrove, Kit-Kit. Just a hunch, you know."

"A very good assumption, Taylor." Alessandra mused, giggling at the people rushing past. "Based on the amount of people here, I'd say so too." Gallant barked in agreement, playfully chasing them.

"Hmm... I hope the doctor wasn't with them. My butt still hurts," Taylor complained.

"HEY! I KNOW!!" Taylor suddenly burst out, bouncing next to Alessandra like a giddy schoolgirl. "Let's sing a song!"

"Sure!" Alessandra agreed, her excitement rising to meet with Taylor's. "But, what should we sing?" - She asked thoughtfully.

"Hmm..." Taylor grabbed the arm of one of the mobbers running by. "Excuse me, miss, would you recommend us a nice, long, travelling song?" Taylor asked sweetly.

"Well, there's always the classic 'ninety-nine bottles of Zinc on the wall…'" - she said thoughtfully, shifting the pitchfork she was carrying to her other hand.

"Good idea! Thanks a lot!" Taylor said graciously.

"No problem," the woman said. "Well, if you ladies will excuse me... GET HIM! GET HIM!!" - She ran back to her group, yelling like a wild Loudred with her fellow mob peers.

Alessandra giggled, and began to sing. "_Theeerre's_... Ninety-nine bottles of Zinc on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of _Ziiiiiinc!"_

"You take one down, pass it around--"

"NINETY-EIGHT BOTTLES OF ZINC ON THE WALL!" - The girls sang simultaneously.

They linked arms, dancing together to the tune of their song as Gallant ran in circles around them, barking and pawing at their feet. Dandy danced as well above the girls' heads.

"NINETY-EIGHT BOTTLES OF ZINC! YOU TAKE ONE DOWN AND A PASS IT AROUND! Ninety-seven bottles of Zinc on the wall!"

Taylor unlinked their arms and began twirling like a ballerina, sans the grace that came with one who trained to wear a tutu. "Ninety-seven bottles of Zinc on the wall..."

Alessandra joined in the twirling, weaving back and forth. "You take one down and pass it around, ninety-six bottles of Zinc on the wall!"

After a few moments of twirling and singing, their minds fuzzed with dizziness, their words jumbled into an incoherent mess... And they started weaving further and further away from each other.

"Frgha bollas of...something with Calcium...and gravity defying moonwalks...ahhh..." Taylor held onto the most solid thing her hand could grasp, waving her arm around frantically until she grabbed a branch, holding her head in her other hand. "Dizzy..."

A presence appeared on her shoulder. "Heeey Dand--" Taylor stopped dead, her breath caught in her lungs. "You're not Dandy..." Taylor said neutrally to a Kakuna that had landed on her shoulder after she had rustled the tree for balance.

Dandy landed on Taylor's head, wearing a great big grin, even though Taylor felt disaster looming over the horizon. She looked up, horrified at the sound of buzzing, to find a swarm of Beedrill looking quite miffed, if she would say so herself, were she not trembling.

"WHY IS IT ALWAYS BEEDRILL?! I DIDN'T EVEN THINK THERE _WERE _BEEDRILL ON THIS ROUTE!! IT'S LIKE A FREAKIN' RUNNING JOKE!! I AM NOT HONEY!!" Taylor yelped as she began running, the bug Pokémon on her tail.

"Eighty-sumthin... bottles of... ugh..." Alessandra stopped spinning, shifting dangerously on her feet. "Heeeeey, Taylorrr, a'what numba' were we on? I can'... remember..." - she mumbled, stumbling to rest herself on a rock.

"Uh, let's stop for a bit... I don't know which way is up..." Despite her sitting position, she leaned forward sharply, nearly planting her face on the ground.

Gallant rushed up to her, licking her face to try and rouse her. "_Noooo_... Don't do that..." She moaned, pushing him away.

"Taylor? Are you there?" - She asked a few moments later, having pushed a bit of the fuzziness away. She glanced around in a panic, not seeing anyone. "Oh, great, I lost her." - She pouted.

Somewhere in the distance, a girl shouted out in jubilation: "WELL I'LL BE! THE CITY OF GROVES AND CHERRIES!"

This statement of joy was followed by pained screams about bees and their drills.

* * *


End file.
